Kisses from a Rose
by Andoriol
Summary: A mission brings two new shinobi to Konoha, how will this change Konoha as we know it? Will hearts stray or will they stand strong? Only time will tell. DISCONTINUED
1. Chapter 1

**!!!IMPORTANT!!!** This fanfic takes place in Konoha immediately after Naruto and Jiraya bring Tsunade to Konoha but before Sasuke leaves, just wanted to clear that up. Also, this chapter isn't able to get too far into the main storyline of the fanfiction without dragging on, so please bear with it till you get to the next chapter which is much better.

**!!!ALSO IMPORTANT!!! **This chapter is written dumbed-down because it's from Naruto's point of view, so please bear with the weaker grammar and such until next chapter, which will be from a… more intelligent characters view.

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'**_Blah' _**– Kyuubi Speech

///////////////////////////////////////////// Point of view change; scene change; or time skip

**Chapter 1**

////////////////////////////// **Naruto's PoV** //////////////////////////////

'_Stupid Tsunade-oba-chan…' _I growled to myself.

Here I was, Me! Uzumaki Naruto next Hokage! Sitting on a training log and waiting for either a mission or someone to come train me! How embarrassing…

_'Damn you Kakashi-sensei! Going off to train Sasuke-teme and not me! And Ero-senin has gone off to peek at women too! Kuso!' _I messed with my hair and screamed in frustration, I had looked through the entire village! The entire village! "And here I can't find either of those perverts!"

"Oi! Naruto!"

I turned to see Kiba, annoying guy, walking over with Akamaru on his head, "What is it?"

"Tsunade-sama wants to see us about a mission, she sent me to come and get you."

"A mission! Yosh! Let's go!" I shouted and leapt up and ran towards Tsunade-oba-chan's office. I heard Kiba mutter something like 'hyperactive idiot' but I ignored him, I did kick his butt in the chunnin exams!

I ran through Konaha with Kiba and Akamaru behind me, I ignored the glares of the villagers as I did, there were fewer that before I kicked butt in the chunnin matches, so when I became Hokage the would acknowledge me for sure!

I ran all the way to Tsunade-oba-chan's office, going right up to her desk, "Oi! Tsunade-oba-chan!"

A vein throbbed in her forehead, "NARUTO! Must you barge in like that all the time!?" she stood, placing her hands on the desk and glared at me.

"Uh… gomen…" _'Kami-sama she's scary…'_ I backed up some.

"N-N-Naruto-kun…" I turned and there saw Hinata was standing there beside me in front of Tsunade-oba-chan's desk, her cheeks were pink and she was poking her index fingers together.

"Oh, hello Hinata," I smiled at her, and her cheeks reddened more, _'What a strange girl…' _

"Naruto," Tsunade-oba-chan said, this time she didn't sound like she was angry anymore, "You, Hinata, and Kiba," Akamaru barked, causing Tsunade to smile, "and Akamaru are being sent on a mission to escort some very important people from a city I met during my travels back here. Since Konoha is low on shinobi retrieving these two should help lighten the load," Tsunade-oba-chan looked us over.

I was immediately excited, I was going to be doing something important! "Yes! So, who are we going to be escorting, the Feudal Lord? Some powerful ninja? A-"

"You will be escorting a young boy and girl, siblings actually, they are about your age."

"NANI!?!" me and Kiba both shouted, I mean, come on! We were going to be escorting kids!?

"A-Ano N-Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun… I-I'm sure T-Tsunade-sama has good reason to send the f-four of us to escort them…" I looked over at Hinata and saw she was blushing and looking to Tsunade-oba-chan hopefully.

"Thank you for not yelling Hinata," Tsunade said tensely with a small glare at me when she said 'not yelling', "And yes, I do have a reason for sending the three of you to pick these two up. Neji and his team are already away on a mission as is any jounin or chunnin suited to the task," Tsunade-oba-chan held out a mission file which Kiba picked up and began to look over.

Kiba looked up suddenly from the paper and stared at Tsunade-oba-chan with wide eyes, "You're sending us genin on an A-ranked mission?" Kiba asked with some disbelief.

"Nani?" I snatched the paper from Kiba's hands and looked at the mission rank at the top of the page, _'By Kami-sama! She's sending us on an A-ranked mission!'_ I jumped up into the air,"ALRIGHT!!!"

"NARUTO!" Tsunade yelled and I immediately quieted down, Tsunade-oba-chan sighed, "I'm sending you three-" "Bark!" "-four in particular because there will be enemy shinobi attempting to harm the two you are bringing. With Hinata's Byuukagen, Kiba and Akamaru's sense of smell you should be able to detect any of the enemies that will be coming your way. I would like to be sending Shino with you but he is away with his father on a mission, so I'll be sending you with them Naruto to keep the same amount of offensive strength in the team."

"H-Hai Tsunade-sama… w-where will we be going?"

Tsunade-oba-chan stood fully and pulled down the map by its cord, she leaned some and pointed to a village/small city in the center of a very small country a little ways below Konoha, "The two of them are residing in the feudal lords' house in this country; they will be expecting you and should recognize Hinata. Now, are there any other questions before you four get ready to go?"

Me and Kiba glanced at each other then shook our heads, Hinata however spoke, "A-Ano… d-do we consider these two civilians?"

What she said actually made me think, "Hey! Hinata has a point, are we going to have to protect these kids every step of the way?!" I shouted at Tsunade-oba-chan, pointing my finger at her.

The old woman surprised me though and instead of killing me or punching me through the wall just smiled at us, "Oh, these two are quite capable of surviving a fight, you'll see when you get there," she sat back down, "Now is there anything else?"

This time Hinata shook her head, Tsunade-oba-chan looked at me and Kiba again then nodded, "You four should meet at the south gate at 8:00 am tomorrow to leave in time; it's a three day walk there so be prepared."

"Hai," the three of us said together, we left the building and I could barely contain my happiness, the moment we were outside I shouted, "Yosh! I'll see you two tomorrow!" I ran off towards my apartment to get ready, not really paying attention as Kiba called out a 'see ya', _'Finally! A Mission!'_

I was so excited! I was being sent on an A-ranked mission! I rushed into my apartment and began to pack up stuff into my backpack, Tsunade-oba-chan must've finally recognized the fact that I was worthy of these missions! Maybe Sakura-chan would pay attention to me after I came back from this important mission! Because I, Uzumaki Naruto will be the next Hokage!

////////////////////////////// **Next morning, 8:30 a.m.** //////////////////////////////

I ran as fast as I could towards the south gate, "Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! I'm late! I'm late!"

I finally skidded to a halt in front of Hinata and a very annoyed looking Kiba, "Oi! Naruto! What took you so long?"

"Gomen," I said, scratching the back of my head on reflex, "I forgot to pack my ramen last night and had to do it this morning…"

Kiba rolled his eyes, "Well we'd better get going," he said, while starting to walk off, Akamaru barked in what sounded like a yeah from his shoulder, "It's going to take long enough to get there as is…"

"Yosh! Let's go!" I started to run off, but a soft voice made me skid to a halt.

"A-Ano N-Naruto-kun…" I turned and saw that Hinata was speaking, her cheeks were pink, _'What a weird girl' _"…we've got a long ways to go… i-it's still a two day trip for the best of ninja… t-there's no point in rushing in the begining…"

"Eh he he…" I grinned and scratched the back of my head, "Yeah… you've got a point Hinata…"

Kiba gave me a small shove as he walked by, his other hand in his pocket, "Still, we'd better keep walking; it _is_ two days away."

I chuckled some nervously and put my hands on my backpacks straps, walking beside Kiba as Hinata fell into step behind us.

////////////////////////////// **Sunset the same day** //////////////////////////////

The day was boring and quiet, nothing much happened, no one really felt like talking.

Just as the sun was about to set Kiba stopped in a clearing, taking a quick glance around, "Alright, we'd better set up camp, we're not really in any hurry or anything," he smiled at me and Hinata before pulling off his pack starting to pull the tent stuff out of it.

"Aw! But I'm barely tired! Can't we go on a little bit more?" I pouted, I mean, I really wasn't tired!

"T-There's not really a point in wasting our strength N-Naruto-kun… this place is a pretty good place to camp t-to…" Hinata said, her cheeks a little pink while she helped set up the tent.

I sighed; they did have a point, "Hai, hai…" I set down my pack and helped set up the red tent.

It didn't take all that long to set up the tent, we set up our sleeping bags and everything, after I had got my jacket off and my night cap on, after I lay down I made sure they knew just what I thought about going to sleep this early, "I can't believe you guys really expect me to go to sleep this early. Seriously…" I yawned and closed my eyes.

////////////////////////////// **Sometime that night** //////////////////////////////

I blinked and sat up, there was an urge that I needed to fulfill and I stated so out loud, "Gotta pee."

I grabbed my jacket and headed outside, finding a tree a ways away from the tent I did my business; then I heard something…

I headed off through the trees some and peeked around the trunk of one of them, and there was a beautiful girl dancing on this small pool of water, she was walking on water and the water droplets were hanging in the air around her! The water was swirling into a rough sphere around her as she held a position on the water.

I had to speak up, I stepped out from behind the tree trunk and stepped towards the girl and the water, "Ano… wha-?" suddenly I lost my footing and slipped into the water with a splash.

I spit out some water as I got up, "My bad. Didn't mean to scare you," I looked up, "Huh?" I stood up and glanced around, "There's no one there?"

////////////////////////////// **Next morning, about brunch time** //////////////////////////////

I sneezed loudly as we were walking the next morning, man I felt miserable…

Kiba turned and looked at me as we walked, "Hey Naruto, what's wrong? You caught a cold or something?"

I sniffed and rubbed my nose, "Maybe a little…" my hand moved to cover my mouth while I yawned, "tired…"

"Man, after all that sleep you're still tired? You snored the whole night."

"Hey! Something incredible happened when I woke up in the middle of the night..."

Hinata sneezed cutely, "Hey, Hinata, do you have a cold too?"

"Hmm, I'm okay,"

Just as she finished saying this Kiba half glomped me as we walked and leaned in close with a scheming grin on his face, "So then, what was this incredible thing you saw?"

I turned towards him, he wouldn't believe this! "You see, there was this ultra pretty girl at the pond!" Hinata gasped, she must find it hard to believe also.

"And when she moved her hand, the water was like, "ga!"" I spread my arms to show Kiba, "it was awesome."

"And then?" he asked skeptically.

"When I called out to her she suddenly vanished."

"Weren't you just dreaming it all up?"

I sighed, he could be right, "That's what I'm beginning to wonder…"

"What's it with you? Baka."

I looked over at Hinata and saw that her face was really red, "Hey, Hinata… Are you sure you don't have a cold? Your face is really red…" her face got a shade deeper.

"R-Really, I'm fine."

'_What a weird girl…'_

Akamaru barked from some distance in front of us and Kiba turned to us with a wide grin, "Oi! Naruto! Hinata! The city is just up ahead, we're almost there!"

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 1** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay! Now for the dreaded Authors Notes!!! Unless there is something bold type down here you can usually ignore it if you want. Seriously though, I apologize for how much this followed the episode 148, the next chapter will be more original… This story should get better as it goes on. Anyways! Any opinions will be appreciated greatly!

Till next time,  
this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	2. Chapter 2

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'**_Blah' _**– Kyuubi Speech

**Non-Jutsu Translations:**

Jimi – subdued, inconspicuous; unattractive

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 2**

////////////////////////////// **Hinata's PoV** //////////////////////////////

'_N-Naruto-kun thinks I'm pretty!' _I couldn't believe it! I knew Naruto-kun saw me last night practicing… but… but he thinks I was pretty!

"Weren't you just dreaming it all up?" Kiba-kun asked Naruto-kun behind me.

Naruto-kun sighed, "That's what I'm beginning to wonder…"

"What's it with you? Baka."

Then reality sunk in, he didn't think **_I _**was pretty, he thought the girl he saw was pretty; he didn't know it was me… '_That's a relief and a disappointment at the same time, a relief that Naruto-kun didn't see me naked… and a disappointment because… because he didn't know he saw me dancing naked in front of him…' _

My face reddened some more at that thought.

I was broken from my inner thoughts when Naruto-kun spoke up, _'When did he start walking beside me!?'_ "Hey, Hinata… Are you sure you don't have a cold? Your face is really red…"

I was not just thinking lusty thoughts about Naruto-kun! I wasn't! I forced my vocal cords to work, "R-Really, I'm fine," _'Curse my stutter!'_

Then I was saved by the bell, erm, bark, as Akamaru yipped from up in front of us and Kiba-kun translated, "Oi! Naruto! Hinata! The city is just up ahead, we're almost there!"

Naruto-kun jumped up and shouted, "Yosh! Let's go!" he began to walk quickly down the road, Kiba-kun chuckled and I smiled while we picked up the pace to keep up with him.

The three of us walked through the gates of the small city without incident. The guards saw our Konoha Forehead Protectors and just smiled at us, waving us through.

The feudal lord's house was not hard to spot, Naruto-kun noticed the top of it above the other buildings first and led us through the streets towards it, though we got lost a couple times he never gave up.

One time we passed by a ramen shop, since it was close to lunch Naruto-kun insisted that we eat there, and because there wasn't really a reason not to we stopped and had lunch.

When we finished and had all paid we left the shop and Kiba-kun declared that he would lead us to the feudal lords home since Naruto-kun didn't seem able. Naruto-kun harrumphed when Kiba-kun said this, cutely crossing his arms, looking away and muttering that he knew where he was going; I couldn't help but smile.

Kiba-kun didn't fare much better than Naruto-kun though…

Eventually I slipped behind them a ways and activated my Byuukagen, quickly finding the feudal lords home and memorizing the pathway as best I could. I deactivated my bloodline and made a suggestion; which in his aggravated state, Kiba-kun was more that willing to follow.

////////////////////////////// **Several minutes later** //////////////////////////////

"Wow…" Naruto-kun said upon seeing the gates of the feudal lords home, it was painted quite nicely and had a sizeable wall around its 3 acres.

There was a guard on each side of the gate, as we walked up one of the guards took a good look at my eyes. The guard visibly stiffened and hastened to open the gates for us, motioning us through, "Ah, w-well, the two of them a-are in back of the main house in the c-courtyard Hyuuga-sama," the guard said, stumbling over his words more than I usually did, "Y-You, just need to follow t-the stone path on your right."

'_I never did like how some people react to the Hyuuga house-hold…' _I nodded and bowed some before heading down the path after Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun, "Thank you."

The three of us walked along the path till we came to a wooden fence, Naruto-kun pushed open the gate and we walked in, taking a look around the 'backyard' of the mansion as we did.

There was a teenaged boy and a girl in the center of the sandy courtyard about 30 ft. from us, there were also several large trees around the edges of the 'backyard' of the mansion, but before I could pay attention to anything else I saw the girl charge at the guy!

Both Naruto-kun and I started to rush forward to stop them, but Kiba-kun grabbed our shoulders, "I think they're just sparring… there's no killer intent coming from either of them."

He was right, we watched as the girl met the boy, the two clashed into a series of simple taijutsu blows, the girl on the offensive and the boy slowly backing up. Yet during all this both of them had small smiles upon their faces, "Let's let them finish," both Naruto-kun and I nodded, stepping back to watch.

The two locked hands, each trying to push the other back, while they did this I took the opportunity to observe and compare the two of them, the boy was obviously larger but they both wore similar outfits; they wore tight pants similar to my own only dark blue ones, and they both had sleeve-less tee shirts on of the same hue. What happened next made the three of us gasp.

The girl threw out her arms, then, grabbing the boy's wrapped wrists with her hands, ran up his body, kicking him in the chin while performing a back-flip off of him. She landed and started to make hand seals as he skidded to a halt and regained his balance.

Ram Monkey Snake Tiger She breathed in deeply, her chest expanding to three times its original size while she held the tiger seal to her mouth, then it hit me! _'It's a fire jutsu!'_

She blew out explosively across the tips of her fingers and we all gasped as her breath ignited into a stream of flame, but not just any flame, a cold blue flame.

The blue flames washed across the boy and he let out a small cry of "Uncle!" while both of the boys beside me sighed a soft, "Amazing."

The girl grinned and let the stream of destruction die out, planting her hands on her hips as the blue flames faded, revealing a very much unconscious boy lying on the ground, her grin widened to near Naruto-kun like proportions as she adjusted the cap that held her hair.

The boys both practically bounced over to the young girl while I just walked behind them, a pang of jealousy making itself known at both of their eager faces.

The girl turned to face us when Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun were about halfway to her, the boys steps faltered when they saw the girls piercing green eyes. They skidded to a halt in front of her, both grinning broadly at her smiling face.

She raised a hand in greeting, "Konichiwa! My name is Shelby, you guys are from Konoha right?" she smiled at all three of us.

"Hai!" Naruto-kun said happily, he opened his mouth to speak but Shelby beat him to it.

"Great! Just let me tell my Nii-chan you guys are here," she turned around but I had to speak up.

"A-Ano… Shelby-san… Isn't that your Nii-chan?" I asked; nodding to the boy she had just beaten.

"Oh! Him?" she said looking at the boy before looking back over at me with a hundred watt grin, "Nah, he's just my sparring partner, he's taken worse than that during our time here, now let me go get my Nii-chan."

With that the girl stalked off to one particularly large tree, the three of us following behind her curiously.

She stopped at the tree, planted her hands on her hips and took a deep breath, "NII-CHAN!!! GET YOUR BUTT DOWN HERE!!!" she lifted a leg and kicked the tree square on, causing the tree to shake violently.

The three of us watched in shock as a mass of green and grey fell from one of the branches higher up, the bundle twisted in the air and landed lightly on two feet.

As the mass straightened, I held back a small gasp; it was a young man!

'_He looks like Kiba-kun and Shino-kun…' _a small blush flared on my cheeks as he covered his mouth with a hand and yawned. The first thing I thought about him was how he looks like my teammates!

"Did I fall asleep again?" he asked lazily, I noticed that whereas his sisters voice had a softness to its high pitch, even when she yelled, his was almost as low as Shino-kun's, and more… gravelly.

"Of course you did you baka! You always fall asleep when I'm sparring," his sister reared a foot back and kicked him in the shin; he winced and pulled his shin up, a monotone 'ow' coming from him.

When he winced I realized why he reminded so much of Shino-kun; he wore opaque oval sunglasses that covered his eyes and had a similar hairstyle… only… his hair was more of the kind of brown you'd find in a forest…

"Oh, ohayo," he said finally, turning towards us and extending a hand, "My name's Jimi."

"My name is Inuzaka Kiba, and this is Akamaru," Kiba-kun took Jimi's hand and shook it while Akamaru barked a greeting. I could easily remember how rough Kiba's handshakes were but it seemed Jimi just smiled some at him.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, next Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village!" Jimi then turned to Naruto-kun and shook his hand loosely, his amused smile and soft-spoken voice countering Naruto-kun's broad grin and loud tone.

"Well good luck with that," he said half-sarcastically before releasing Naruto-kun's hand and turning to me, holding out his hand, "And you?" he asked softly.

A small smile found its way to my lips and I reached out to take his hand, "Hyuuga Hinata," _'His hands… they're so rough…' _I blinked once as my hand grasped his, his hands _were_ rougher than anyone else I'd known, even Lee-san's. As he actually shook my hand I realized something else, his grip was as gentle and loose as his hands were rough…

When we stepped back, the corner of his mouth tilted up in a small smile as he surveyed me and my team, "So, is it safe to assume you guys are here to take us to Konoha?"

Naruto-kun nodded, "So you two are the brother and sister we are taking to Konoha?"

Jimi reached forward and rapped his knuckles against Naruto-kun's forehead protector, an amused smile on his face, "No duh blondie." Jimi then turned to his little sister, "Shelb, go notify everyone that we will be having three guests for dinner, oh and double-check that they can stay in our rooms."

She sighed and nodded, turning to walk into the mansion only to be stopped by Jimi's hand on her shoulder. She gave him a funny look to which he just tapped his temple.

"Oh! Forgot about that," she said, then reached up and tore off her cap and the three of us watched as shoulder length hair fell down, her hair was a bright strawberry blond; it was almost orange. I found the effect beautiful, and from the boys gaping; almost drooling faces, I was right.

Another pang of jealousy made itself known in my chest as I saw not only Kiba-kun's eyes follow her as she bounced off, but Naruto-kun was watching almost as closely. I jumped when I felt a light brush across my shoulder.

I turned and looked at Jimi as he pulled his hand back, he leaned a bit closer and whispered, "Don't worry, she does that a lot… they'll get over it once they find out about her fiery temper, not many guys like a girl that could beat the crap out of them." He gave me a small smiled as he pulled back, my cheeks flushed some, partially at how easily he could tell I liked Naruto-kun, partially at how gently he spoke to me.

He smirked at the boys before his face cracked into a fully amused smile, the corner of his mouth rising, "Hey boys, close your mouths… you're drooling."

I couldn't help the smile that came across my face as the two of them closed their mouths hurriedly and wiped their mouths just to check; they both scowled at him and I covered my smile with my hand.

Jimi smiled as he put his hands in his pockets, then I actually looked at his clothes; I had been expecting him to wear something like what his sister wore only different colors; but it seemed like he had taken an olive green kimono with grass green trim and tucked it into a pair of gun-metal gray cargo-pants over some custom open-toed ninja shoes the same color as his pants.

The boys were still glaring at Jimi as he walked towards the back door of the mansion; he slowed down and looked over his shoulder at us, a small smirk on his face as he spoke softly, "Well? You three coming or what?"

Naruto-kun harrumphed while Kiba-kun grumbled before they followed Jimi; I smiled some and followed them.

The three of us followed Jimi through the twisting corridors of the mansion, and as we did, I realized that he was getting similar reactions to what I did in the Hyuuga household; the same bows of forced respect, and the same small smiles of _actual_ respect.

While we walked, my teammates, especially Naruto-kun, were looking around at the décor with small looks of awe. I personally didn't find the mansion impressive, but I was born a Hyuuga… so I was probably far too desensitized to wealth.

Jimi led the three of us down one corridor and stopped at a door, opening it we were greeted by the site of a green room, the walls were painted green and so was the bed, there were several plants in the room as well. Jimi motioned Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun forward, "Throw your stuff down in here; you'll be sleeping in here.

The two of them shrugged and dropped the packs onto the floor and came back out. Jimi closed the door and pulled out a key to lock it.

"Took you long enough Shelb," Jimi said calmly before he turned from locking the door, making the rest of us jump and whirl around, and sure enough, there was Shelby right behind me!

I 'eeped' and stumbled back into Kiba-kun and Naruto-kun, Shelby gave us and embarrassed smile and blushed a little, "Sorry about that, didn't mean to scare you…"

"Hey Shelb, could you take the boys to the dining room? I've still got to show Hinata to her room," she looked up at her brother and nodded.

She smiled at the boys, "Come on guys! Last one there doesn't get dessert!" she laughed and dashed off, my teammates shook their heads and ran off after her as fast as they could.

I was still staring after them when I felt a hand brush across my shoulder, I looked over at Jimi, well, over and up; just then I realized that he was almost as tall as Shino-kun, "Want me to carry your bag for you while I show you to the room?"

I flushed some and nodded, slipping the straps of the sizeable pack off and handing it to him. He slung the pack over his shoulder and walked down the hallways once again, this time with just me following him in silence.

Something bothered me though… and I felt I had to ask… but… it wasn't appropriate… right?

He looked over his shoulder at me, his voice as soft as mine usually was only much deeper, "Something wrong?"

I flushed some, "W-Well… w-why did you offer to carry m-my pack and not Naruto-kun's and Kiba-kun's?" _'There, I asked it!'_

He shrugged and looked forward again, his voice held no hint of annoyance in it, "Well, for one, I can't comfortably carry three packs at once… and two, neither of them are a pretty young woman."

My face exploded into a blush and I was very much glad that he had his back to me. No one had ever said anything like that to me! I'd never been called pretty! And yet here he was saying it like it was the most obvious thing in the world!

He stopped at a door and I stumbled to a stop behind him as he opened the door, setting my pack onto the floor of the room. He came out and locked the door again, giving me a small smile and walking off again.

As I fell into step behind him again and my embarrassment over his previous comment faded, I noticed that each one of his strides was about two of mine, but they were much slower, it was almost like hi was loping…

While I was pondering this he stopped again and opened a door, revealing a large traditional Japanese dining room, the table was already set and there were quite a few people sitting at the table already, many of which were already eating.

A pair of blonde heads caught my attention and I looked over and saw Shelby was sitting between Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun with Akamaru curled up on her feet; she was talking animatedly to both boys as everyone ate.

Jimi and I walked over to the other side of the three of them; I flushed some when he held out a chair for me across from Naruto-kun, pushing it in when I sat down.

Shelby spoke up as he sat down; the smile on her face was able to rival Naruto-kun's, "Good to see you two! You'd better hurry Jimi-Nii-chan! They're almost out of dumplings!"

Jimi chuckled back in his throat as he pulled out his chopsticks. I smiled and picked up mine, snapping them apart and starting to place things on my plate.

I blushed some whenever Naruto-kun smiled at me during the dinner.

Later on during the relatively quiet dinner, Jimi looked up at Naruto-kun and asked with mild curiosity, "Hey, Naruto."

"Hm?" Naruto-kun looked up with his mouth full of ramen.

"If you're a ninja… why do you wear bright orange?"

Naruto-kun, Kiba-kun and I all stared at him, I admit that I often times wondered why Naruto-kun wore that bright of a color… but I'd never had the courage to ask.

After Naruto-kun slurped up the rest of his noodles into his mouth, his mouth opened and closed soundlessly, "W-Well, I wear orange because… well…" he scratched the back of his head nervously, "Well! Why do you wear sunglasses?!" he 'accused', in his usual cute stance with his finger extended at Jimi.

"Because I like them and they're part of my 'look'," he said simply, shrugging before he returned to eating, "If you wear the color just because you like it then you could've just said so."

Then Naruto-kun did something I hardly ever saw him do, he blushed, "Well… yeah…" he looked down as he sat down and started eating again embarrassedly.

Kiba-kun and Shelby both chuckled and I hid my smile behind my hand for the second time that night.

Once Naruto-kun had gotten over his embarrassment, the rest of the dinner passed quickly, no one came to bother us during the dinner.

As everyone was finishing up Kiba-kun glanced out the window, "Wow…" he looked over at Shelby, "Does it always get dark here this early?"

As Naruto-kun and I looked out the window at the dark sky she replied, "Not usually, but there is a storm coming through and we don't really want to be outside during it."

"Speaking of which, it would be best if we try to get to sleep _before_ the storm really gets started," Jimi stood.

Naruto-kun opened his mouth, probably to argue that he wasn't tired, but Jimi cut him off with his deep and calm voice, "We wouldn't be able to travel during a storm of this intensity, also, it is already late enough to be considered evening, we might as well try to rest up for tomorrow."

Naruto-kun shut his mouth and grumbled some to himself as he stood up as well, the rest of us following suit.

Before we were able to get very far Jimi stopped, "Oh yeah, before I forget," he knelt down by Akamaru, "Hey, Akamaru."

Akamaru yipped an acknowledgement then Jimi spoke again, "Two rules," he held up a finger, "One, don't eat my plants," he held up a second finger, "Two, you're not allowed on the bed, sorry."

Akamaru nodded and scurried off towards the door, Jimi smiled some then stood again, walking beside his sister and leading us through the mansion.

As my teammates and I followed the siblings out of the dining room, I realized something else about the two of them. It was more obvious now that they were walking in front of us side by side but Shelby-san only came about to Jimi's shoulder.

Just about then Jimi turned down one hallway while Shelby-san went down another, Shelby-san walked backwards and called out, "Hinata! You're with me! You boys are following my brother!"

As the boys scampered off after Jimi, I caught up with Shelby-san.

I found the silence as we walked though the halls somewhat uncomfortable, which was unusual for me, but when we got to the room and walked inside she finally spoke up.

"Well then Hinata! You can take the bed, I'll see if I can break in my new sleeping bag!" she giggled and smiled at me, unrolling said sleeping bag from under a desk.

"A-Ano…"

"Don't worry," she looked up at me and I was startled by how gentle her voice was, "I'm usually found sleeping like this and I just don't want that nice bed to go to waste on my last night here."

I looked at her for a second before I smiled, I nodded and set about getting ready for bed.

I had a feeling I was going to like these new additions to Konoha.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 2** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) None so much as to ask for any forms of constructive criticism!

Till next time,

this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	3. Chapter 3

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'**_Blah' _**– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 3**

////////////////////////////// **Kiba's PoV Brunch time the next day** //////////////////////////////

I yawned loudly as the six of us walked down the path.

Akamaru was in my jacket as he usually was when he was tired, Hinata and Naruto both were fully packed again and walking with there hands on the straps of the backpacks. And then there were the two new additions to our little group, Jimi and Shelby.

I still had trouble believing that Jimi had let us sleep in his room while he went and slept outside, but… considering that he was the one who woke up first and had woken up everyone else, I guessed it didn't affect him.

The guy was just a jackass, he had the same level of calm as Shino; hell, he even wore sunglasses all the time like Shino; but unlike Shino, Jimi was sarcastic and it pissed me off!

He had that special tear-drop shaped backpack of his with one large strap, he had those special glasses; how could this lazy ass be related to Shelby-chan?

I looked over at her; she was wearing clothing similar to what she had yesterday, minus the cap, and was carrying a more traditional backpack. How could this fiery redhead be related to that lazy shit-head?

I still couldn't figure it out when we stopped for lunch not much later, at the insistence of a certain annoying blonde, stupid Naruto…

As we ate, I looked back and forth between the two of them, Shelby-chan was an inch or two shorter than me and Jimi was just as much taller; she wore clothes that accentuated her figure and showed about as much skin as Sakura or Ino while Jimi's clothing seemed to be made to hide everything but his head; the only thing that was even close was their scents!

I took a deep breath to confirm their scents and I almost jerked, remaining calm only through the extensive yelling sessions Kurenai-sensei had forced upon me; there was an unknown scent in the area!

I looked around at everyone, meeting Hinata's eyes for just a moment, and that moment was all we needed. She had sensed them earlier and was thinking on how to deal with them just as I was, we had been teammates for long enough to understand those kinds of things.

I guessed Naruto hadn't sensed them yet, that baka would've rushed off to fight them by now if he knew we were being followed, I bet Shelby-chan would've done something similar only with more tact, Jimi probably wouldn't have cared the shit-head.

We continued walking; me and Hinata had come to a silent agreement to deal with our stalkers when we stopped for the night unless they attacked us of course.

Which they didn't, it was almost sunset now and our stalkers hadn't attacked yet, only Hinata, Akamaru and me had seemed to notice them, but the time was working to our advantage, there were four of them and one was about chunin level, the other three were only about genin level.

We weren't too far from the pond where I'm assuming that baka Naruto saw Hinata practicing her new jutsu with water when the sun was setting.

I looked around, we were in an open clearing, this is probably as open as we'd get in this forest, this was probably the best place to fight these guys no matter their jutsus, "We'd better stop here," I said starting to slip my shoulder straps off, but Jimi's hand on my shoulder stopped me.

"There's a pond nearby right?" he cocked his head to the side some but his face stayed stoic.

"Yeah… it's not much farther… why?"

"I'm pretty sure that everyone would like to sleep next to a source of fresh water, I know I would for one, if it's not much further we oughta push for the pond just for comfort reasons right?" he smiled at me some, making it sound like the simplest thing on the planet as he did, damn bastard.

I looked around and it seemed everyone agreed, Shelby-chan even spoke up, "I'd love to get a chance to sleep by a natural body of water for once!"

I sighed in defeat, "Alright… let's go," we couldn't arouse suspicion as of yet, even though we could be walking onto terrain that would give our enemy the advantage.

We pushed for a few more minutes till we arrived at a sizeable pond with gravel shores, I sighed as everyone dropped their packs to the dirt, just as I was about to turn and continue with this charade I felt a hand grab the back of my jacket and with a rushing sensation I found myself flung into the lake.

As I flew through the air with Akamaru in my jacket I realized that Jimi was the one who had thrown me from the way he was recovering on the bank in those split seconds.

When I hit the water I also heard two other splashes with my enhanced hearing, I looked over in the water and saw that Hinata had been thrown like me by Jimi and that Naruto had been tackled by Shelby into the water, '_lucky bastard.'_

As I began to swim back up to the surface I saw three blasts of fire streaking towards Jimi from behind; the three of them knocked him forward into a fourth blast of flame coming from the other side of the sizeable pond.

I watched in horror as his silhouette began to break apart under the combined fire jutsus, then I had to blink as his body simply exploded into hundreds of flaming leaves. _'Wha-… It was a leaf clone! But when had he switched out with it!?'_

The sound of swishing water caught my attention and I looked over to see Shelby performing hand seals, but what…?

Tiger Serpent Tiger The sound of her voice carried through the water, "Suiton- Suijinheki (Water Release- Water Wall)

The very water around us shifted and we were pushed to the surface, a dome of swirling water surrounding us and pressing up through the blasts of flames, Hinata, Naruto and I walked on the calm water in the center of the dome with Shelby.

Shelby spun around and faced the direction of the one shinobi on the other side of the small lake and began to perform hand seals as the three closer to us began forming seals of their own.

"You must think you're a tough little shit huh?" one on our side shouted as the three preformed their jutsu in synchronization, Rat Horse Dragon Ox Tiger, "Katon- Karyu Endan (Fire Release- Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)!"

Shelby paid them no heed as their flames splashed around dome of water surrounding us and finished her jutsu, Tiger Ox Monkey Rabbit Sheep Boar Ox Horse Monkey Tiger Dog Tiger Serpent Tiger Ox Monkey Rabbit Bird, "Suiton- Daibakufu no Jutsu (Water Release- Great Waterfall/Giant Vortex Technique)"

The water on the dome in front of her swirled around faster and faster before exploding outwards in a powerful stream towards a very shocked ninja on the other bank, blasting him into the forest with massive power, the sound of steam being formed explosively made me turn look out the other side of the dome of water at the other three shinobi breathing flame onto the still standing tall dome of water.

I noticed something coming out of the forest… It was Jimi!

He walked calmly out from the shadows and slowly backhanded the closest enemy to him, knocking the man _through_ a tree and _into_ a boulder. Jimi took two steps forward and, using the same hand, punched another enemy in square the face as he turned in shock; even from this distance I could hear the man's skull fracturing over the sound of rushing water.

By the time that man was airborne the third shinobi on the bank had turned his stream of fire onto Jimi, _'What is that idiot doing!? Why isn't he getting out of the way!?' _as this happened I was absently aware of the dome of water collapsing around us.

Jimi watched the oncoming fireball with what looked to be amusement before his little sister phased into existence in front of him and released her own blast of cold blue flame to counter the blast of orange and red flame. I gaped openly at the girl in amazement, not only had Shelby anticipated the fireball aimed at her brother and been ready to cancel it but she had moved so fast!

As the two of them cut off the fire streams Shelby turned to Hinata and Naruto, "You two go deal with the guy on the other bank! The rest of us will finish up here and come to help you!"

The two of them nodded before running off after the fourth ninja and I got the message loud and clear, help clean up here.

The lone shinobi scowled, "You don't think I'll make it easy on you do you!?" Rat Horse Dragon Ox Tiger, "Katon- Kar-"

Jimi stepped in front of Shelby and swung his arm violently with a mutter of: "Toge Shuriken (Thorn Shuriken)," about seven brown 'triangles' shot out from his loose sleeves and embedded themselves in the enemy shinobi's body.

The shinobi screamed and clutched at the thorns sticking from his stomach and arms, his jutsu obviously interrupted.

As I walked forward with Akamaru in my arms, smiling and thinking, _'This guy probably won't even need the Gatsuga!' _Jimi began to walk in the other direction.

When I looked at him curiously he glanced over at me, "I'm going to go help Hinata and Naruto, you two can finish up here."

I nodded as he leapt off across the pond; as he disappeared I cracked my knuckles, "Now, time to clean up."

////////////////////////////// **Hinata's PoV Brunch **//////////////////////////////

I had been startled when Jimi had grabbed my jacket and flung me into the water, and I had been forced into a state of near constant comatose shock at the abilities of the siblings as Jimi showed amazing taijutsu power and Shelby preformed three jounin level techniques! It was no small wonder why Tsunade-sama wanted these two protected when they were brought to the village…

I finally closed my mouth when Shelby had shouted out reasonable orders to me and Naruto-kun, I would blush about working with Naruto-kun alone later; right now we had a mission to complete.

The two of us had ran off into the forest in the swath of destruction that Shelby-san's water jutsu had created, emerging into the center of a clearing, but with no enemy.

We looked around quickly and I started to form the seal to activate my Byuukagen but our enemy stopped us with a loud challenge from behind, "Oi! Brats!"

Both Naruto-kun and I turned, Naruto-kun looked furious, "Hey! Who do you think you are calling brats!? I'm Uzumaki Naruto! The next Hokage!"

"Well prove it then loser!" the man laughed as Naruto-kun formed his favorite seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" after the smoke cleared, there were five of my beloved Naruto-kun standing beside me. My hands immediately went to poking their index fingers together in my little habit; Naruto-kun was strong enough to handle this alone for sure.

Naruto-kun charged at the enemy, four of him launching into the air while one slid along the ground. The shinobi simply laughed as he swung his arm, smashing all of Naruto-kun's clones back.

Naruto-kun's four clones simply exploded into smoke and the real Naruto-kun landed in the dirt beside me with a grunt, a small crater forming where he landed.

I gasped and my arms reflexively covered my chest even more, I knelt by Naruto-kun and looked him over, my cheeks pink, my blush disappeared however when I realized that he was barely conscious. Naruto-kun had nearly been knocked out by one attack!

I stood and looked over at the laughing shinobi, "I have mastered the technique of pouring chakra into my muscles and enhancing my strength ten fold! You can't even hope to defeat me you little snot!"

I steadied my breath; it was my turn to defend Naruto-kun after he had helped me so many times.

As I readied my Byuukagen and the shinobi started towards me, he spun suddenly and deflected a brown kunai.

I followed his gaze, _'It's Jimi!'_

Jimi swung his arm horizontally in front of his chest, muttering "Toge shuriken," as he did; multiple brown, kunai-looking objects shot out from his sleeve. The shinobi deflected them once again and started to advance towards Jimi.

I watched nervously as Jimi continued swinging one arm after another and firing volley after volley at the shinobi. Yet each thorn was deflected and the shinobi continued to advance, I was about to jump in as the enemy got within ten feet of Jimi, but a resounding explosion cut me off.

Jimi glanced over his shoulder and there was a split-second delay between one volley of thorns and another, the enemy shinobi took advantage of this and lunged forward, closing the gap and swinging his entire body behind a single powerful right hook that connected with Jimi's cheek dead on.

I gasped as the ground beneath them cracked, with a single strike this shinobi had nearly taken out Naruto-kun, that powerful of a blow should've taken off Jimi's head! Jimi's sunglasses flew off into the grass, but Jimi; to the surprise of both our opponent and I, still stood there, his head turned to the side from the force of the blow.

The shinobi and I shared similar feelings of shock as Jimi simply cracked his neck with exaggerated slowness, I was unable to see Jimi's face, but I was able to see the tensing of the enemy shinobi's muscles as Jimi wound his body up for a punch muttering, "Kobushi no Toge (Thorn Fist)."

Jimi swept his hand across the shinobi's stomach, droplets of blood flying in the air; I caught a glimpse of Jimi's hand, the back of it was covered in small curved spikes. His spiked fist swung forward and caught the enemy in a gut punch of such fearsome power I could see the indentation of Jimi's fist in the back of the shinobi.

The blow sent the enemy several feet through the air, rolling to a stop on his stomach, blood began to pool beneath him.

I was awestruck; Jimi had just shrugged off a blow that should've killed him like it was nothing and had retaliated with power that rivaled Naruto-kun's.

I gasped as Jimi turned, his eyes met mine for a split second before he went over to retrieve his sunglasses, and though I couldn't be sure because of the distance… no… it wasn't possible… but it had almost seemed as if his eyes were solid green…

By the time I shook my head of such stupid thoughts Jimi had already replaced his shades on his face and was walking towards me.

He placed a hand lightly on my shoulder, "Are you harmed Hinata?" his voice was soft and concerned, though his face did not change.

I shook my head, not trusting my voice. He nodded and moved to crouch by Naruto-kun, placing his hand over Naruto-kun's stomach, a haze of green chakra encompassed both Jimi's hand and Naruto-kun's stomach.

"Y-You know healing jutsu?" I asked; I was starting to wonder if there was anything Jimi _couldn't_ do…

"Just some minor ones," he said softly, he lifted his head and looked off into the forest, I followed his covered gaze to find Shelby and Kiba-kun coming from the forest with several minor burns on each of them. I hadn't noticed them worried about Naruto-kun and Jimi as I was.

"What happened?" he asked as they got closer, returning most of his attention to healing Naruto-kun.

"The guy opened his shirt," Shelby said, apparently disgusted, "He had several exploding tags on him, they detonated… you probably know you already killed the other two…"

He nodded as Naruto-kun's eyes fluttered open. Jimi stood as Naruto-kun shook his head some, rubbing his temple, "Itai…"

Suddenly Jimi moved around me, I turned to see part of a kunai sticking out the back of his hand; his other hand shot up and grabbed an exploding tag that was attached to the kunai, all I heard was a muffled wumph and saw Jimi's fist jerk before smoke began to rise from between his knuckles.

Everyone looked to see the shinobi that Jimi had gutted struggling to remain on his elbow, apparently he had thrown the kunai at me and Jimi had gotten in the way of it; the shinobi collapsed to the ground, Shelby leapt over and checked for a pulse. She looked up and shook her head; he was dead for sure now.

With that worry out of the way, me and the rest of my team turned towards Jimi to see him twisting the kunai in his hand once with a small grunt before pulling the blade from his palm.

He tossed the bloody kunai aside and looked absently at the bleeding hole through his hand. I spoke up, worried that he might be in shock, "J-Jimi-kun… are you okay?"

"Hm? Oh, you mean this?" he held the bloody hand up and shrugged; I could see the trees on the other side of his hand through the hole, a green haze of chakra already seeping from the wound, "I'll be fine in the morning."

With that he turned around and began to walk back towards where all of our stuff was, reaching into one of his pockets to pull out wrappings.

I nearly jumped when Naruto-kun spoke from right beside me in a slightly awed voice, "How'd he do that?"

"Because he's accustomed to pain," Shelby said simply as she stepped up beside us, "Let's just leave it at that okay?"

We all looked at each other, and with a silent agreement decided it was the best idea to do as she said in this case.

"Hey! Are we going to set up camp or what!?"

We all looked to see Jimi-kun, now with both hands in his pockets at the edge of the clearing.

////////////////////////////// **Several minutes later** //////////////////////////////

Fortunately it seemed as if Kiba-kun and Shelby had been able to save all of our packs and supplies. It only took a couple minutes to set up two tents, one for me and Shelby and one for the boys.

Jimi-kun had dragged three tree trunks knocked down during the fight to form seats around the fire he started while the rest of us set up the tents.

Naruto-kun made a large bowl of ramen for all of us to share, dishing out some for everyone in bowls he had brought along; I couldn't help but blush when I accepted my share.

As we all ate, Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun and I all kept stealing glances at Jimi-kun as he ate, the bandages around his right hand were soaked with blood but the wound seemed to have stopped bleeding.

Jimi-kun finished his bowl and went to wash it out in the pond, as he did so he spoke without turning from what he was doing, "I'll take first watch, I'm not really tired and I need to be conscious to heal this wound…"

Kiba-kun spoke up, "How long can you last?"

"A little after midnight within reason," he stood and dried the bowl with his loose sleeve, "Do you think you could take the second watch and last the rest of the night?"

"Yeah," Kiba-kun seemed somewhat solemn, even though Akamaru yipped in agreement with him.

"Good," Jimi-kun handed the bowl back to Naruto-kun as he finished his fifth bowl.

As Naruto-kun began to collect the empty bowls Jimi-kun sat down by the fire, "You all had better get some rest; we will be traveling most of tomorrow."

We all nodded and headed towards our respective tents and sleeping bags.

As I snuggled into my sleeping bag with no intention of practicing my jutsu tonight, I was already slipping away into dreamland, Jimi-kun could be as strong if not stronger than Naruto-kun, we would be safe.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 3** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) I can't believe I got chapter three done in time! But this time I know **there won't be another chapter for about a week, maybe two. **I apologize for this delay but my family is going to Pennsylvania for winter break and I don't think I'll have enough time to work on the next chapter during that time… Any thoughts on this chapter would be greatly appreciated.

Till next time,  
this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	4. Chapter 4

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'**_Blah' _**– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 3**

////////////////////////////// **Kiba's PoV Sometime during the night **//////////////////////////////

_- There I was! I had beaten an entire enemy village!_

_I draped my arms over Ino and Sakura; those two had finally realized that I was far better than Sasuke!_

_I looked across the field and saw a flash of orange hair and a bright smile._

_I walked forward and the smell of strawberries with an underlay of citrus filled my nose._

_My mouth began to water - I felt a pressure on y shoulder. –_

My eyes snapped open, that pressure wasn't part of my dream.

I looked around in the dim lighting and relaxed when I saw what had woken me up, it was Jimi's hand on my shoulder _'Guess it's my watch.'_

I sat up and pulled on my jacket, looking over at Jimi's silent form as I did. He was still crouched by my sleeping bag and gently scratching a still half asleep Akamaru's neck. He seemed to be staring out of the open flap of the tent, the pale moonlight on his skin giving him a serene and peaceful look about him.

I followed him as he stood and went outside, making sure to close the tent flap after Akamaru was out.

Jimi set a pillow onto one of the logs and flopped lazily onto it like it was his favorite bed, his head landing on the pillow, _'So that's how shit-head sleeps outside.'_

I assumed he had closed his eyes when he put his hands in his pockets and crossed his ankles. So I was vaguely surprised when he spoke from that position, "It's been a quiet night… but not too quiet. You should be fine as long as you keep you eyes and nose open."

'_Figures… that shit-head already figured out that I use my sense of smell like Akamaru…' _"Gotcha, now get to sleep already," I glared at the side of his face some, but it wasn't an angry glare.

He smiled without turning, "Gladly."

As I watched him fall asleep across the fire, a thought worked its way into my hed, _'He seems to contradict himself with everything he does…'_

'_He acts so relaxed outside of battle… he seems almost as lazy as Shikamaru! Yet… he has that battle intensity I've only seen Shino have…' _I propped my chin up with my hand as I scratched Akamaru with my other.

'_And he's so damn gentle! Not only is that so different from the cold-blooded, ruthless killer he is in battle, he doesn't even smell gentle!'_

My eyes narrowed at his sleeping form as I let more chakra seep into my nose. As my senses heightened more I was vaguely aware of the scents of the forest, the campfire, and Akamaru; I finally picked out the smell I was 'looking' for, Jimi's.

I resisted the urge to cover my nose, I knew it wouldn't block out that thick, musky scent of his with my senses heightened so. This time I _really_ smelled him, every other time I had let my senses fade back to normal before I was overwhelmed; this time I was going to memorize his scent. I noticed something about his scent this time around that set shit-head even further apart from everyone else: underneath the musky scent was the smell of oak and a faint trace of blood.

The more I thought about it. The more it seemed like he should be some bloodthirsty killer… like Gaara only more feral… yet he was stoic, soft-spoken, and gentle for the most part… way unlike his sister.

I started to pick up her faint scent of strawberries and citrus blended together, I had memorized her scent when I had met her; her scent was more subtle than her brothers. Yet Shelby-chan was fierce and energetic in or out of battle. She was fun to be around, even though she smelled like a girly girl.

Akamaru got up and went to relieve himself, as he did I tried to understand how Jimi-shit-head could be related to that you, orange-haired firecracker. I was still wondering over it when Akamaru came back and well into my watch.

////////////////////////////// **Just before sunrise **//////////////////////////////

I had given up on how those two could be related a while ago and took to simpler things, like where Akamaru and I were going to go on our walks when we got back, and which girls I was going to tell about this mission.

Sometime during the night Jimi had shifted soundlessly onto his side as he slept. He had spent most of my watch facing the fire fast asleep. Now with the sun rising, Jimi yawned quietly and sat up.

He pushed his sunglasses farther up his nose with his palm before standing. He stretched and my eyebrows shot up at how may of and how loudly his joints popped, _'Some of those sound like small exploding tags!'_

"Happens every morning."

I shut my mouth and glared at the shit-head, I didn't like it when people interrupted me and he had answered my question before I was done _thinking _it!

"Shouldn't you get that looked at?" I asked angrily as he unzipped his backpack. Give me a break, I may not like the shit-head but if he suddenly died or couldn't fight in battle I didn't want to be blamed! He replied as he pulled vegetables and fruits out of his pack.

"Because I'm made this way, would you go to the doctor because you wake up with sharp teeth and claws?" he looked up at me as he zipped up his pack, something about the way his lips tightened and the tone of his voice made me feel like he was accusing me.

Well I wasn't going to back down! "So that's _normal _for you?"

"It happened to the entire clan, Shelb just got it less-so than everyone else and I more-so that the others," the way his scent spiked when he said that and the tenseness that entered his voice made me stop and think. Now I may be dense, but I think even Naruto would've picked up that this was a tender subject and took the hint to drop it.

So I did, I kept my mouth shut as he pulled out the bowl/pot that Naruto Had used for Ramen last night. He filled it with water before setting it over the dying fire; then he threw some sticks on the fire and crouched beside it, forming some hand seals slowly, probably to make sure they were perfect and so to conserve chakra.

Snake Tiger Monkey Boar Horse Tiger "Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (Fire style: Grand Fireball Technique)," he murmured and breathed a small but intense flame into the sticks. This not only ignited the fire but started the water boiling as well.

As he started to break apart the fruits and vegetables into the water by hand I raised an eyebrow, _'He knows the same jutsu as Sasuke…' _I smiled at the next thought in my head, _'Shelby-chan probably taught it to him.'_

////////////////////////////// **Several Minutes later **//////////////////////////////

I could hardly stop drooling at the smell of whatever it was Jimi was making in that pot!

After he had added those spices a few minutes ago to the already sweet smelling stew it had _REALLY _started to smell good! And when I used my enhanced sense of smell it actually smelled even better! _Usually_ when I smelt something with 'super' senses it usually had worse smells to it, but the stew still smelled like a great dish! _'Who knew shit-head could cook? What's next? Sewing, gardening?'_

I barely noticed the unzipping one of the tents. However I did notice the soft, awe-filled, "Wow…"

I looked away from the steaming pot and realized that Hinata had come out of the girls tent fully dressed; she was now standing with her mouth slightly open as she smelled the stew, I wouldn't be surprised if she started drooling.

Considering how overwhelming the smell of the stew is it wasn't surprising I missed Hinata's faint scent of lavender.

I looked back to Jimi and smiled, a light pink blush had spread from his cheeks to across his nose, reminding me of how Hinata would blush on occasion. He hadn't stopped cooking but there was an embarrassed smile on his face, causing my smile to become an evil grin, _'Oh man, this is too good to pass up!'_

"Smells good doesn't it Hinata?" I said, smiling at her.

My grin widened when she predictably blushed as Jimi just had and stuttered out a sincere, "H-Hai!" with a small smile.

This of course, made Jimi's blush spread and deepen, just as I had hoped, seemed the shit-head wasn't as stoic as he wanted to seem.

But he stalled any further attempts to embarrass him more when he lifted the pot away from the fire and announced, "It's done, we've got to wake the other two, I'll take my sister if you wake Naruto," he said while looking at me.

My grin; which had been fading since any more teasing would be impossible, no returned full force at the thought of waking up Naruto in a number of ways, _'Oh, this is going to be so fun! Cold water splashed all over him should do…'_

As I stood and went to get some water, Jimi slipped past Hinata and went into the girls' tent.

I stopped on my way back to our tent when a loud yelp exploded from the other tent, followed by Shelby-chan screaming, "I'M UP! I'M UP!"

Both Akamaru and I suppressed grins; I would have to learn exactly what shit-head had done, I obviously worked wonders waking people up, while Hinata covered her mouth, whether to smother a grin or because she was displeased I couldn't tell.

My grin broke free as I slipped into the guys' tent, _'I wonder if Naruto will be that loud to? I sure hope so!'_

////////////////////////////// **Naruto's PoV Several seconds later **//////////////////////////////

I had been in a great dream with me being the Hokage and Sakura-chan beside me as my wife when a blast of cold water hit my face!

I shot up, spitting out water and shaking my head while looking around, "What!? Are we under attack!? What's… happening… Kiba?" I calmed down some as I saw Kiba just rolling on the floor and laughing hard. Then I noticed the dripping bucket.

"KIBA!" I screamed and lunged at the laughing bastard! He just laughed and rolled out of the way, getting out of the tent by the time I had gotten up.

By the time I pulled on my jacket, shoes and forehead protector and gotten outside I had calmed down a little… very little. But when I smelled something wonderful; almost as good as ramen even, I stopped being angry and started being hungry!

I got outside in a hurry to see where the smell was coming from. When I did I saw Jimi dishing out some stew in bowls for everyone. I spoke as I ran forward, "Wow! That smells so-!"

Jimi planted a bowlful in my hands before I finished, picking up his own bowl and going to lean on a tree to eat.

I blinked before I sat down to eat like everyone else, grumbling to myself, _'Jeez! Jimi is almost as much of a jerk as Sasuke-teme!' _I spooned a mouthful of the stuff into my mouth as I continued thinking about just how much of a jerk Jimi was, but when the vegetable soup hit my tongue my eyes shot open, _'He may be a jerk but he's a good cook! This tastes almost as good as it smells!'_

I started shoveling the soup into my mouth, it was good and filling and even the future Hokage needs to eat right?

////////////////////////////// **Several minutes later **//////////////////////////////

We were putting the tents back up after we all had thanked Jimi for the excellent soup.

Jimi had washed out the bowls and pot, now he was walking back to the camp; I thought he was going to help us with the tents… I thought.

He walked up to what was left of the fire and put his hands into a Ram seal; the ashes swirled around the embers and all traces of the fire vanished into thin air!

He then calmly grabbed the end of one of the three logs we had used for benches and, with a grunt and a heave, threw the sizeable log far into the pond; doing the same with the other two logs as everyone stared.

'_Wow… he's strong… I mean, I could've picked up those logs! I just couldn't have thrown them like that…' _

Well, everyone was staring but Shelby, "Jimi! Stop showing off!" she shouted, making everyone jump as Jimi dusted off his hands.

"Well finish packing up then! I'm almost done with the 'us never being here' part!" Jimi shouted back almost playfully, the guys face didn't change much when he showed emotion but his voice did.

Then we all got back to work with the tents as he cleaned up the last traces of our camp.

Just as everyone else was getting their packs on, Jimi spoke again, his voice that stupid calm one again, the one that said 'I am the leader! Listen to what I say!' "There could be more enemy shinobi after us; we should get to Konoha as fast as possible."

Something hit me, "Hey! How made you team leader!?" I pointed my finger at him accusingly and glared.

Jimi turned back and walked right up to me calmly, stopping only when his nose was inches from mine, he then spoke really quietly as he looked down at me, "Do you have a better idea that doesn't involve getting attacked again Naruto?"

I swallowed, thinking quickly, I forgot he was taller than me and his voice was soft and scary, "Um… well… I… uh… no," I looked down and backed up a step. Uumaki Naruto never gave up! He just makes one of those tactical retreat thingies…

"Didn't think so, now are there any _real_ complaints?" he looked around and everyone shook their heads, "Then lets go."

"Hai," we all said together, me with less energy than everyone else.

As everyone else leapt into the tree branches Jimi took off running on the ground through the trees.

////////////////////////////// **Several Hours Later **//////////////////////////////

'_Jimi is almost as weird as fuzzy-brows in some ways…' _I glanced down at him on the path below us. While Shelby was leaping from branch to branch like the rest of us normal ninja, Jimi was just running along the path, just barely keeping up with us.

"Oi!" I looked back at Kiba, he, Akamaru and Shelby were behind me and Hinata was behind them, "It's almost lunchtime! Shouldn't we stop?"

We all stopped on a big branch and Jimi skidded to a halt below us.

"Hinata, could you look for a water source or a clearing please?" Jimi didn't seem out of breath at all as he asked this, despite the fact that he had been running the whole time instead of the, what did Sakura-chan call it again? Oh yeah, 'more energy efficient tree hopping.'

Hinata nodded, the veins popping around her eyes as she activated her Byuukagen.

"Hey! Why can't we stop here for lunch!?" I shouted, I mean, this place looked good as any other!

Jimi leapt up onto the branch we were on and landed inches away from me, giving me that same calm look as he did before at camp.

"Do you want room to maneuver? 'Cause I sure as Hell do and I'm pretty sure my sister and Kiba would appreciate space as well," I swallowed as he leaned closer and spoke in that same angry soft 'I am the leader' voice, "And if we find water all the better, if I remember correctly, which I usually do, it was my sisters water jutsus that saved your asses back there when the shinobi attacked."

"I-I've found a-a clearing, it's only a few hundred feet from h-here down the path…"

Never was I gladder to hear Hinata's voice since it made Jimi pull back and stop the scary voice thingy. He turned and nodded to her, "Thank you Hinata," his gaze swung back to me, "I don't know about you but I'm going to go to that clearing to eat."

With that he stepped around me and seemed to skip off of the branch to the next and so on, if I didn't know any better I would've said he was just skipping down the road and not leaping ten some odd feet from branch to branch.

'_Okay… he's way weirder than Fuzzy-brows in some ways…' _I thought as we followed behind him, I dropped farther behind.

////////////////////////////// **Later, about 3:00 at the village gates **//////////////////////////////

After we had eaten without trouble we had gotten back to leaping along the branches through the forests to Konoha, except Jimi who just ran on the path again.

As we approached the gates a ninja dog ran out to sniff us when we stopped on the road in front of the gate.

The dog sniffed over all of us and Akamaru ran up to it, 'speaking' to it in that weird dog talk ninja dogs had; after that the dog turned back and nodded to the gaurds, who moved us through the gates and directed us to go straight towards the Hokage's office, _my_ future office.

We moved through the streets pretty quickly, passing by many shops and stuff. I made sure to point out every shop that I knew to Shelby, who was amazed at my knowledge of our Hidden Village. (A/N: This is just Naruto's inflated ego talking; she's really just impressed by the size of Konoha) Jimi however seemed to be unimpressed by everything I said, the only time he even looked up was when the Hokage Monument came into view.

Just as we got onto the street where the Hokage's office was a woman in a medical outfit ran up to us, us meaning Kiba.

"Kiba, Akamaru! Mom wants you to get to the house A.S.A.P.!" the woman had red tattoos on her face like Kiba did; it was his sister, Hana or something like that.

She looked over the rest of us, "Sorry about this but he's in trouble," she mussed up Kiba's hair, who grumbled loudly at it, "Mom's been wanting to chew him out for it since he left."

Jimi seemed to smile some and playfully elbowed Shelby, who glared at him before crossing her arms and looking away with a pout, "Oh shut up."

Hana seemed to really notice the two of them for the first time, she looked the two of them over, and I was pretty sure she looked Jimi over twice before she spoke again, directly to Jimi this time, "Little sibling?"

"Yep; trouble every second of the day aren't they?" he responded calmly.

Hana smiled, "Getting into the cookie jar…"

"Shouting random things at people…"

"Pulling pranks…" Hana looked slyly over at Kiba, who was very red in the face now.

"Being foolishly delayed even further from… important appointments," a small smile spread on Jimi's face and Kiba stiffened.

"Kuso! Mom!" he started to run off, while yelling over his shoulder, "I'll get you to for this!"

Hana laughed and Jimi shook his head with a smile, she looked over at him, "Well I'd better follow him and make sure he doesn't do something stupid, see you all later." She smiled and waved as she turned and walked after Kiba.

"See ya," Jimi said waving back before resuming the walk, the rest of us shaking our heads and catching up.

I sorta pitied Kiba and Shelby, the two of them had just been double teamed by two quick thinking older siblings, Kiba had gotten the worst of it but Shelby still looked sorta put out.

I took the lead once again as we walked through the halls towards Tsunade-oba-chan's office, I had memorized the way from the front door to it like any future Hokage would. We reached the door without any problems from the guards; they even opened the door for us.

"Tsunade-oba-chan!"

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 1** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) I am FING back! Man it was chilly up North! Alright, I'm pretty sure I've fixed all the problems in the last couple chapters and I hope to get an actual beta reader soon. I haven't had one T-T that might explain why I've had grammar problems and stuff like that…  
Anyways! I would greatly appreciate it if someone could find me all the suffixes and their proper spellings, I haven't had time to find them and it would help greatly!  
Oh yeah, and EnRaGe, I didn't intentionally mean for Naruto to seem like a pussy, I was just trying to emphasize just how much damage Jimi can take… ker-sweat…  
So anyways, I'd like any comments you all want to make on the story!

If you've seen that one captain on One Piece, the one with the gloves with swords on all his finger and glasses, that's how Jimi adjusts his sunglasses.

Till next time,  
this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	5. Chapter 5

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

Non-jutsu Translations:

**Barakuchizuke – **Rose kiss

**Chapter 5**

**Last Time on Kisses from a Rose!**

I took the lead once again as we walked through the halls towards Tsunade-oba-chan's office, I had memorized the way from the front door to it like any future Hokage would. We reached the door without any problems from the guards; they even opened the door for us.

"Tsunade-oba-chan!"

////////////////////////////// **Hinata's PoV **//////////////////////////////

I couldn't believe it, I was SO embarrassed! I knew Naruto-kun called Hokage-sama oba-chan, but… but I never thought Jimi-kun! Jimi-kun of all people! And _I_ had brought him here!

I was startled out of my embarrassment when a streak of orange and blue flew past me and glomped Hokage-sama.

To say I was even more startled by what happened next would've been an understatement, "Shelby-chan! You little scamp!" Hokage-sama was hugging Shelby to her tightly, laughing some. After a few moments of this she gestured for us to come in.

As we all walked in, Jimi-kun spoke up, "Gomen Oba-chan, I tried to warn you…"

Hokage-sama glared at him, fire in her eyes, but she couldn't get up with Shelby on her lap still.

I made to stand behind Naruto-kun and Jimi-kun, but then I noticed someone else in the room that made my blood go cold.

There, standing right beside Hokage-sama's desk, was my father.

I gasped some and slid a bit further behind Naruto-kun and Jimi-kun, _'What's my father doing here?!'_

"Anyways, Naruto, Hinata, you two did a good job on your mission; I'll get the report from Jimi later." She turned to look at Naruto-kun, "Naruto, you are dismissed, just be sure to tell Kiba he did a good job as well when you see him."

"Hai Oba-chan!" Naruto-kun shouted, unfazed by the death glare he got from Hokage-sama while he turned and walked out of the room, the ANBU guard closing the door after he left. Leaving Jimi-kun, Hokage-sama, Shelby, my father… and me… all alone in the room.

I gulped nervously as I glanced over at my father, what was he doing here?

As if in answer to my unspoken question, Hokage-sama spoke as she pushed Shelby off of her, "Alright then, now that you two are here you'll need a place to stay…"

"Well… you have to know that you can't legally adopt us Tsunade-sama… as much as both of us would appreciate it if you would and could, and being that I'm still aline and the clan heir laws dictate that you can't adopt either of us…"

"Which means that they shall be unable to live with you Hokage-sama," my father broke in.

"My point exactly," my father showed what, for a Hyuuga at least, was light surprise at Jimi-kun's knowledge of the laws of our village.

Tsunade-sama just smiled, "That's why you're here Hiashi-san," she nodded towards my father, "I believe the Hyuuga residence will be perfect place for these two."

"Pardon me Hokage-sama," my father's voice was dripping with sarcasm as he spoke her title, "But why should I, head of the most prestigious household in Konohagakure, allow a pair of orphans into my home?"

Tsunade-sama smiled, devilishly at my father before speaking, "I seem to have forgotten to mention the heritage of these siblings… Jimi-kun, would you please demonstrate?"

I blinked once, _'Heritage?'_ I looked over to see Jimi-kun's cheeks were a light shade of pink, "Tsunade-oba-chan, I don't believe it would be appreciated if _I _demonstrated our clan heritage…"

Tsunade-sama grinned evilly at him, "Well… then I'll just have to call Kiba-" at this, Shelby blushed some, "or Naruto in here and have Shelby-chan-"

"Okay!" I jumped at the ferocity of Jimi-kun's tone, "I'll do it already!"

'_Do what?'_ I thought as Jimi put his hands together in a Ram seal, _'It's probably some sort of clan jutsu that signifies the clan, one that can't be imitated by someone outside of the clan…'_

I watched carefully as Jimi let a hand fall, raising two fingers to his lips and kissing them, _'…?' _then he took a step towards me and reached the fingers he had kissed towards me.

'_Oh my! What!? Is he-!? He wouldn't!'_ my internal rambling shut off when he lightly placed his fingers on my cheek.

An explosion of rose petals stopped any further thoughts of embarrassment; Jimi-kun pulled back, his cheeks almost as bright a red as mine most likely were. The wonderful smell of roses filled the air around us as the petals drifted around freely in the air. I couldn't believe it; Jimi-kun had kissed me! H-He had kissed his fingers then placed that kiss on my cheek! It was indirect but Jimi-kun had just given me a kiss!

I was broken from my reverie when my father gasped; I looked over to see him holding a handful of the petals in his hand.

I blinked, what would make my father, a man whose face was practically carved from granite, gasp?

I searched my mind frantically for something that could do that to him, when the thought of Jimi-kun's clan came to mind. What clan had a signature jutsu that _created_ rose petals?

'_Rose… Oh my!' _my eyes shot open and a hand went to my mouth, _'Jimi-kun is… is…!'_

"Barakuchizuke Jimi… and Barakuchizuke Shelby…" my father breathed out what I was thinking, "Hokage-sama I would be honored to host these two in my household," my father said quickly, as if to amend for some sin.

Tsunade-sama grinned some as my mind raced, _'I couldn't believe that I had escorted the last of the Barakuchizukes! I can barely believe that __these__ two are part of what used to be one of the most powerful clans in the world, rivaling even the Hyuuga's or the Uchiha's'_

"Good, I thought you would change your mind after figuring that out," Hokage-sama grinned at my father as Shelby got off her lap, "Anyways, you three can go," she nodded at Jimi-kun, Shelby and me, "Us two adults will work out the paperwork and everything involved."

"Tsunade-oba-chan… what about our shinobi status?" Jimi-kun questioned, gesturing to himself and Shelby, "We may have been trained in our clan but that doesn't automatically render us as shinobi of this village… we should have to pass the same tests as everyone else."

Shelby groaned as my father looked at Jimi-kun again, he was surprising my father multiple times in the same day. _'Jimi-kun… how are you doing that?'_

Tsunade-sama took it in stride, "I've already set up a session with you two and Iruka, a chunnin instructor here… he'll determine if you pass or fail. It's tomorrow morning at the academy, one of the Hyuugas can show you there tomorrow."

This seemed to satisfy Jimi-kun, for he nodded then turned to me, his voice seemed to get gentler somehow, "We'd best get going then, unless there's something you wish to ask her…"

I blinked in confusion then shook my head, "N-no…"

Shelby then glomped me, I stayed standing with some effort when she hugged me, she spoke cheerily, "We'll be living with you! This will be so great Hinata-nii-chan!"

It took me a moment to absorb what she called me but I couldn't help but smile at her, she was just so cute when she did that.

Jimi-kun shook his head some, "If you two are done… we'd best be going…" I looked over and nodded, Shelby pouted but let go of me.

Jimi-kun stepped back and made an exaggerated gentlemanly motion with his arms and hands towards the door, obviously intending for me to lead the way.

I blushed despite myself and started walking, leading them out of the halls of the Hokage's mansion.

I walked outside in near silence, Shelby was behind me smiling and Jimi-kun was beside her silent. When we were outside I spoke up, "Uh… well… should we go to the Hyuuga estate?" I looked back at them unsurely.

Shelby glanced at her brother, who thought for a second before replying, "Yeah, we have to have some time to adjust to our new home and drop off all of our stuff, and you have to drop off your pack as well," he said, nodding at my backpack.

I nodded, "I-I guess you should follow me…" and I starting towards my home, now with the siblings in tow.

The way took several minutes and was quiet the whole time, without Kiba-kun or Naruto-kun around to talk loudly. Anyways, between the two of them they had shown the siblings most of the main things in the village, so I didn't have to say anything… right?

When we got to the gates of the Hyuuga mansion, Shelby spoke up, "_Daaaaaaang_… this is your place?"

My cheeks heated up, "Yeah…"

One of the guards walked up to us, "Hinata-sama, why have you brought these two with you?" he was a member of the branch house, so even though he was asking he wasn't being mean. I never used the cursed seal so most of the branch house members treated me a little nicer than they did the other main house members.

I opened my mouth to speak, but before any noise could come out a small bird flitted to land on the guards shoulder. He looked to it; then nodded and it fluttered off into the Hyuuga grounds.

He looked back to us, "Never mind Hinata-sama, it seems Hiashi-sama has already requested for two rooms for them. They're to be boarded in guest rooms 23A and 43E."

I smiled, my father did work fast when he worked, I nodded, "Thank you."

The guard gave me a small smile and went back to his post, letting the gates open for us. I walked inside with the siblings following behind me a ways.

Jimi-kun spoke up as we walked through the open courtyard of the Hyuuga estate, "Was the bird a form of communication regularly used here?"

I looked back at him and nodded, "It is common for a bird to bring the messages to higher ranking shinobi of Konohagakure, my father probably had Tsunade-sama send it to make sure they let us in."

He nodded some, accepting that explanation. At about that time we entered the actual main mansion of the Hyuuga main branch.

Jimi-kun paused when we passed one of the open sliding doors of the mansion, this one lead into a courtyard. Shelby and I stepped back to see what he was looking at and a pit of slight fear formed in my stomach, it was my little sister, Hanabi-chan.

"W-We'd best g-get going…" I said softly turning to go away, Shelby seemed to hesitate but Jimi-kun took her shoulder and gently shoved her along.

When we had resumed walking down the many corridors of the Hyuuga mansion, I gave him a grateful look to which he smiled some.

I showed Shelby to her room, letting her in to start setting her things up and began to walk Jimi-kun the rest of the way to his room. On the way he spoke up again, "That was you sister wasn't it?"

I gasped some and looked back at him, then looked at my feet as we walked, "Y-Yeah… t-that was my little sister…"

He looked forward for a bit, then said softly, "You're scared of her…"

'_WHAT!?' _My mouth wouldn't work for a moment, when I opened it he turned to me and spoke again, "I don't blame you," he opened a door and walked inside the room, closing the door behind him.

I tried to speak, then noticed the door number, 43E.

I stared at the door for a moment, how had he figured out I was a little afraid of my sister? He probably saw my face when we passed her, yet… he seemed to understand… how?

Because he's Jimi-kun, and his sister is amazingly strong as well... is she stronger than him?

I looked at the door for a few moments longer before turning to head to my room, I had a feeling things were just going to get more confusing from here out.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter** //////////////////////////////

A/N.)** Alright! Folks, I apologize for the sheer delay of this chapter but I had trouble with it. Also, I'm letting people voice their opinions on pairings for just the delay between this chapter and the next! After then the pairings will be set in stone! So make your voice heard! I am completely willing to listen to peoples opinions ****but**** you guys and gals only have a little time to tell me who you want with who!**

Till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	6. Chapter 6

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Non-Jutsu Translations:

Imouto – Little Sister

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 6**

////////////////////////////// **Neji's PoV **//////////////////////////////

I walked along the halls of the Hyuuga main house, I had been summoned to assist the two adolescents that had accompanied Hinata-sama back from her mission. I was to wake them up and… escort them through the village to the Ninja Academy for the test.

I certainly did not like this task, though I couldn't blame fate for giving me the task, Hinata-sama was still tired from the mission and I was the only other official shinobi in the Hyuuga household that wasn't currently taken up by some mission.

I stopped at the one door, 43E, the boy, Jimi I believed, was in this room. I raised my hand and rapped my knuckles lightly against the door, letting my hand rest at my side as I waited for the boy to come out.

There was some rustling from inside the door and it opened, it hadn't seemed to take him long. I looked him over; he seemed about my height, it was hard to tell with that messy hair, and seemed to have a lean build.

He stood in the doorway; unnecessarily holding the door open with a hand as the other scratched the back of his head, his stance was extraordinarily relaxed, I was assured on this by his following yawn before he spoke, "Yeah?"

"I'm to take you and your sister to the academy today," I avoided allowing emotion to creep into my voice at the moment, yet he still seemed to sigh. I watched his face, the opaque shades he wore antagonizing me to no end, for he seemed to care nothing about his appearance except for them. The wraps he was wearing upon his forearms resembled Lee's to a degree only messier and hastily put on, as did his sleeveless shirt and baggy pants.

"'Kay… just give me a moment to finish getting dressed,"_ 'I would hope so.'_

He closed the door and walked back inside, I crossed my arms as I waited, listening to some more rustling from inside the room before he stepped back out once more. This time his clothes seemed more straightened out, as well as his hair, and he wore a kimono top tucked into his pants now, his combat style must require those open sleeves to hide something; otherwise it would get in the way of most taijutsu.

I walked down the hall, I would save the analysis for later, I sensed more than heard him follow me, the only sound being his clothes rustling as he shifted once while we walked.

I stopped at 23A next, rapping my knuckles on the door lightly; waiting several moments, something caught my attention in my peripheral vision and I looked over to see the boy, Jimi if I remembered correctly, smirking at me as if I had done something extraordinarily amusing.

I started to open my mouth after a moment of the stare but he shook his head, interrupting me, "You'll never get her up like that, please allow me to show you how to attempt to wake her up for future reference." He gently slid past me and raised a fist, slamming it upon the door repeatedly, making the walls shake some.

"ALRIGHT! I'M UP!!!" a voice in the room screeched, reminding me unpleasantly of a certain, feminine, blonde shinobi from the exams.

He stepped back, his arm grasping my bicep and pulling me back several steps with him. I turned a glare at him as he continued to gaze at the door, without turning he whispered, "The door opens outward, and it's going to be slamming open in about 3… 2… 1…"

WHAM! His prediction seemed to have proven correct; I wouldn't be surprised if the wall was dented where the doorknob had hit it. Such as it was I was quite glad he had pulled me back along with him, the short red-head in the doorway seethed

She wore a pair of messy pink pajamas and her shoulder-length near orange hair was sticking up at odd angles, it was obvious she had been woken up just now.

The girl, Shelby I believe, opened her mouth to yell, but her brother interrupted her with a small smile, "We're supposed to be somewhere sometime soon you know."

She shut her mouth with a huff and slammed the door closed, grumbling and rustling coming through the door as I assumed she changed.

I watched all of this exchange silently; the two siblings seemed almost comical in their morning activities.

The girl pushed the door open once more, this time in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, both bright blue. Her muscles were lean and barely visible under her skin, she most likely focused upon speed, unlike her brother who seems like he focuses upon stronger slower hits due to the shape and bulk of their muscles compared to other shinobi's.

She huffed and stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her before turning to glare at us, "Well? Are we going or what?"

I glared back at her for a moment, watching her start to squirm before turning and walking down the halls again, not bothering to see if they were following.

I led them through the halls of the Hyuuga mansion, it was still early enough that there were few people moving about the area, even the branch member servants were scarce in the halls. It seemed a good thing too, those that we passed simply turned to look at the two newcomers to the house, ignoring their duties.

When we entered the entrance lobby of the household we encountered Hinata-sama, she seemed to have been waiting for us. "O-Ohayo…" she murmured, looking at the floor and poking her index fingers together, I still disliked how she acted so weak so constantly.

I watched as Jimi nodded at her and Shelby walked past me, grinning like a fool and putting a hand on Hinata-sama's shoulder before speaking boisterously, "Are you tagging along to watch us ace this test Oneesan?"

She flushed, "I-I thought I-I s-should come along…" she started to push her index fingers together repeatedly when I decided we had wasted more than enough time here, saying so.

"We should be going Hinata-sama, as far as I know there is no rule against you accompanying us but we must be there soon."

She jumped some and nodded quickly, "H-Hai!" At this I left the Hyuuga residence and began maneuvering through streets of Konohagakure, I discretely checked in the reflections of one of the store signs as we passed to check that my followers were doing their following, not bothering to actually look behind me and possibly ruin my stoic appearance.

And it seemed that I had picked up a couple extras as I walked, it seemed that Uzumaki Naruto and Inuzuka Kiba had joined the group, both talking animatedly to Shelby. Hinata-sama was walking just behind them, gazing at her 'Naruto-kun'. Then my eyes landed on Jimi, and I was a bit startled.

He _waved_, at _me_, _through_ the shop signs reflection.

He had noticed me looking at the vaguely distorted reflection, pointedly looked at my image in it, and waved. All in the span of about the two seconds that it had taken me to look into the sign.

And then we walked on, me leading with my following. I narrowed my eyes as they focused ahead of me, there was no way that Jimi had actually noticed me looking back at them that quickly, it had to have been a fluke.

My musings were interrupted by our arrival at the Ninja Academy, it was still early morning so none of the usual bustle of children were in the area, this made it quite easy to guide the two newcomers to the back of the large and familiar building where the training grounds were based.

Iruka-sensei sat in a chair not far from the building itself, flipping through a clipboard as we arrived, looking up as my little group arrived.

I stepped aside, motioning Shelby and Jimi ahead, neither of which seemed uncomfortable despite the severity of this situation. Iruka-sensei smiled at them, "So you two are the students?"

Shelby gave them a cocky grin, "Not for long, we'll be shinobi in minutes!" At this Jimi's head moved in a way that clearly suggested that he had rolled his eyes.

Iruka-sensei merely chuckled, "We'll just see about that. Now, who's up first?" he looked back and forth between them.

Shelby took a step forward, "That, would be me," she planted her hands on her hips.

Iruka-sensei smiled, I had to remind myself that he had dealt with Naruto for much longer, thus her boisterous attitude should be easy to stand compared to his.

"Okay, we're going to start off with a simple Bunshin (Clone)."

"Psh," she rolled her eyes, "What kind? Shadow? Leaf? Water? Exploding perhaps?" she gave Iruka-sensei a lopsided smirk.

One of his eyebrow's slowly rose itself at her response, as did one of mine. I highly doubted she was actually capable of that number of kinds of bunshin. A quick glance told me that Hinata-sama was surprised but seemed to believe her, Uzumaki and Inuzuka however seemed to not only believe her but were in awe of her supposed 'skills'.

"Let's just start with a normal clone for now…" Iruka-sensei said, his voice and face betraying his suspicions.

She smiled and formed a Ram seal with her hands, a duplicate phasing into existence on either side of her.

As Iruka-sensei nodded and began jotting down on the clipboard, all three of the Shelby's began to perform various rude gestures at him, receiving chuckles from both of my younger male peers, a blush from Hinata-sama, and an eye roll from both me and Jimi.

She snapped back to attention when Iruka-sensei looked up, all three of her, grinning like mad, Iruka-sensei raised an eye brow at her before coughing into his hand, "Well, considering your… glowing recommendations from Hokage-sama I believe I can let you pass if I see one other jutsu…"

She rolled her eyes, moving over to stand in front of the training logs, she put her hands together once more, taking a small breath before her hands moved quickly through hand seals.

Snake Tiger Monkey Boar Horse Tiger She took a deep breath, her chest expanding to almost three times its original size, "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)" She forcefully expelled a stream a bright orange flame at one of the large training logs. Both Iruka-sensei and I stared as the log seemed to disintegrate within moments of being encompassed by the blast of flame.

As the flame subsided both Iruka-sensei and I looked back to the bright haired girl, who seemed to spit a candle-flame out of the corner of her mouth, smirking at the destroyed log, then turning and giving Iruka-sensei the very same smirk before speaking, "So… do I pass or what?"

I blinked, the insolence! She did good but… I glanced over at the rest of my group, and was even more greatly surprised that Hinata-sama and Jimi were not surprised in the least at what Shelby had accomplished; though both Uzumaki and Inuzuka were practically drooling.

I was brought out of this by the sound of Iruka-sensei's voice, "Um… well… yeah… I guess you do…" he reached into his pocket, pulling out a Konoha Forehead Protector and handed it to her, she promptly took it, and after a moments consideration tied it around her waist, stepping out of the way as she seemed to ponder the viability of the protector there.

Iruka-sensei coughed into his hand to get the wandering attention of the group, which was unneeded with half of the group, namely Hinata-sama, Jimi, and myself. With our attention he addressed Jimi, "Well… you've got to go through the same routine…"

Jimi sighed and moved over to the training field, grumbling and placing his hands into a Ram seal, a set of leaves swirled around beside him, a duplicate forming at their center, at Iruka-sensei's puzzled gaze he spoke, "Konoha Bunshin (Leaf Clone)."

Iruka-sensei nodded, marking on his clipboard as Jimi's clone dissipated into leaves. I tried to remember if there had been any actual teaching upon the properties of leaf clones, I remembered what had been taught about shadow, water, and mist clones but nothing was coming to mind about leaf clones; neither advantages nor disadvantages.

"Okay Jimi, lets see your other jutsu," Iruka-sensei looked up again and Jimi turned back to the training logs, taking a breath, then swinging his arm violently upward, four brown kunai looking diamonds flew out of his sleeve as he did. Each kunai embedded itself in a training log a ways down the field.

I looked back to Jimi as he lowered his arm, TenTen may be a highly skilled shinobi but she uses very few actual jutsus, and Iruka-sensei had asked for a jutsu quite specifically, "Iruka-sensei said jutsu, that was a handy trick but it doesn't qualify as a jutsu to throw a couple shuriken quickly…"

Jimi turned to look at me, an eyebrow lifting itself above the opaque sunglasses he wore. He turned to Iruka-sensei, who just shrugged, "Neji has a point Jimi, I need to see a true jutsu…" He trailed off as Jimi shook his head. He jerked a thumb at the training log, drawing everyone's attention to the kunai he had thrown.

I couldn't understand why he insisted this was a jutsu, he had just used sleight of hand and camouflaged kunai to… where were the kunai handles?

I looked closer at the wood colored blades in the log, they didn't have any handles, nor were they geometrical like a normal kunai would be… they looked almost organic…

"Toge Shuriken."

My head jerked back to look at who had spoken, surprisingly this was Shelby, and everyone listened as she continued her explanation, "It's a technique that only members of our clan can perform, we generate a thorn from our skin then fire it off at high speeds… creating a shuriken… it's not fancy but it's effective and is a jutsu… Jimi is just good enough at it to perform it without any hand seals." At this she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, obviously disliking admitting her brother was good at something.

"Um… okay then… I guess… that counts…" Iruka-sensei sounded as unsure as I felt about that being a jutsu, but then something happened that surprised me immensely, Hinata-sama spoke up.

"W-Well he u-used it in combat on the w-way here… h-he didn't n-need to grab more kunai from anywhere… just swing his arms…" As most of the group that actually knew Hinata-sama stared at her uncharacteristic outspokenness, especially around Uzumaki, she began to poke her index fingers together, looking at the ground as a blush spread across her cheeks, "… w-well… I-I thought t-that i-it had b-been a useful jutsu… i-it seemed like one at the time…" her voice got meeker and softer as she went on.

The awkwardness was thankfully broken by Iruka-sensei coughing into his hand once more, "Well… I guess that counts then…" He pulled out a second forehead protector, holding it out for Jimi to take.

Jimi took it, and after a moments consideration tied around his head sideways, the plate facing off to the left side of his head and not taming his hair in the least.

"It will take a bit to finalize your shinobi status but it seems Hokage-sama was quite sure you would be able to and had the majority of the paperwork done already…" Iruka-sensei spoke as he flipped through the pages on his clipboard, "So I think you two are alright… you'll be called in when you get a mission okay?"

"Hai," the siblings both nodded.

Iruka-sensei stood and headed back towards the Academy, mostly likely to prepare the classroom for the students, smiling at us and waving some, "See you all some other time," he closed the door behind him.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Shelby's loud voice exploded out from behind me, "YES!!! I say we celebrate! Who's up for a party?!" I turned to see her with a fist in the air as she screamed to the heavens.

"I know I sure as hell am!" Inuzuka said with a grin, Uzumaki speaking moments later, "YOSH! I know a great place!"

I considered my options, I could go back to the Hyuuga household since my 'mission' was over, but knowing that Hinata-sama would be following them due to Uzumaki's presence following them was a viable option.

A light touch on my shoulder caught my attention, and I turned to find that Jimi had approached me and was standing beside me now, "Have you eaten breakfast yet?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but my stomach replied for me, growling loud enough that even the hyperactive blondes and the dog lover could hear it over their shouting. I had been unable to eat dinner last night due to an imperfection in my training and had not bothered to get breakfast yet.

"Dude…" Inuzuka hid a snicker behind his hand, his dog grinning at me as well; Shelby and Uzumaki were blatantly giving me amused expressions. All were silenced by my glare.

As they all looked away embarrassedly Jimi spoke up once more, "I'll take that as a no, then would you care to join us?" my head swiveled to face him as I realized that he was speaking to me, "We're going to eat, you're hungry, makes sense to me." He shrugged; his hands in his pockets.

I stared at him for a moment before nodding some, what he said made up my mind on the situation, "I'll accompany you then."

////////////////////////////// **At the Ichiraku Ramen several minutes later **//////////////////////////////

I sighed, slowly eating my noodles; I found it hard to believe that they considered _this _a celebratory feast of sorts. Shelby, Inuzuka and Uzumaki were all sitting close to one another, talking to each other animatedly, Hinata-sama sat beside Uzumaki but neither close or far from him, Jimi sat beside her and I sat beside him, the five of us taking up a number of the stands seats.

When everyone else had sat down Jimi and I had proverbially looked each other in the eye to determine who would sit next to Hinata-sama, he had won.

A loud shout brought me out of my musings for the second time this day; however this time it was Uzumaki shouting loudly and waving at his two team-mates and seemed to be waving them over.

It seemed that Sasuke had a following of his own, manifesting itself in the blonde and pink haired female ninjas along with a small number of village girls… what were the shinobi's names again? Ah yes, Sakura and Ino.

"Hey! Sasuke-teme! Sakura-chan! Check out the new guys!" he grinned expansively as he gestured at the siblings.

"Hn," was Sasuke's only reply, though the girls opened their mouths but Shelby beat them to it.

"Well wasn't that an emo response," this elicited several gasps from all those collected, even I was surprised, I had yet to meet a specimen of the female species that wasn't fascinated with Sasuke… until now that is.

Sasuke glared at her some, "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Psh, shove it, what was your name again? Sasuke-teme? Not emo enough," she pretended to ponder this, bringing up a hand to cup her chin, swiveling around on her stool to face Sasuke.

Even Uzumaki was silent, Sasuke was silently fuming, but Shelby's idle pondering ended as she began to suggest names, "Hmmm… Sa-sushi? No… Sas uke? Better, but no… Oh! I know!" She grinned from ear to ear at Sasuke, who looked like he was about to explode, "Sas – SUCKY!"

Everything was frozen for about three seconds; Shelby leaning against the counter mockingly pointing at Sasuke as she grinned; those gathered, even the Ichiraku owners and myself staring at them stupidly, and Sasuke simply standing in shock.

A slurping of noodles attracted mine, and most likely everyone else's attentions. Jimi had just finished his ramen, seemingly oblivious to the entire facade that had happened right beside him.

It took two more seconds, but Sasuke broke free of the revere first, lunging for Shelby even as she turned back to him swinging a punch as she did, I started to move almost instantly, there was no true intent to kill coming from Sasuke but he was obviously angry and probably intended to hurt Shelby quite a bit.

I needn't have bothered, Jimi had begun moving even before Sasuke and Shelby had, spinning around Hinata-sama and grabbing the two would-be combatants by their collars, holding them in the air and several feet from one another.

Sasuke struggled in Jimi's hold, attempting to get at and most likely strangle Shelby who simply crossed her arms and looked at him smugly. Jimi held the two of them in place until Sasuke stopped struggling and crossed his arms, looking away angrily.

Those two were extremely lucky; Sasuke was almost as good as I was, if he had actually wanted to kill them he would have.

Shelby opened her mouth to speak, but Jimi swiveled his head to glare at her, "Imouto, we're going to be here for quite some time. Don't go making enemies." He dropped her back on her stool, turning towards Sasuke, who he still held above the ground, "_You_ need to lighten up."

As Jimi let Sasuke down, Sasuke swiveled his cold stare from Shelby to him, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

Jimi had turned around to sit again and stopped at the sound of Sasuke's voice, looking over his shoulder to reply, "I don't need to."

"You're trying to tell me to 'lighten up' and you haven't the slightest clue what I've gone through-"

Jimi swung around fully and stepped closer to Sasuke, glaring down at the shorter boy, "And I said I don't need to. I've gone through worse. I don't even need to know what you went through to know this. You take yourself far too seriously."

Sasuke was to be trembling in rage at the moment, his voice soft with barely restrained anger, "My _entire_ clan is dead."

Jimi smacked his hand to his chest, a gasp escaping his lips along with several others present who were unaware of this information, only Hinata-sama and I could have noticed that Jimi's gasp was faked, "Oh, I am _so _sorry… I didn't know… oh… wait…" the hurt façade dropped to reveal an uncaring glare, "So is mine."

I watched Sasuke's eyes flick to Shelby for the briefest of seconds, "You still have your little sister. You can't possibly understand."

"And you have friends," the tension in the air had been thickening since Shelby had spoke; now it had officially reached the point at which a knife could cut it.

Sasuke visibly tensed, his fists clenching as he spoke through his teeth, "You don't know what it's like to be alone."

Jimi took a deep breath, his knuckles cracking they were being clenched so tightly, when he spoke several seconds later his voice was tense, "Let's take this outside, shall we?"

"Lets."

As the two of them turned, walking out of the room, glaring at one another, Uzumaki spoke up, "S-Sasuke? Wha-"

"Shut up Naruto!" Sasuke didn't even turn to yell at Uzumaki, stalking out of the room with Jimi, Sasuke's fan-base parting before them.

I stood and quickly followed, noting that I was followed by the shinobi present. Jimi and Sasuke had taken off along the roofs, soon followed by seven shinobi.

////////////////////////////// **Several tense minutes later **//////////////////////////////

We had arrived where Jimi and Sasuke, on some silent agreement, had come to settle their differences.

During our transit I had once caught up to them and when I opened my mouth to speak, they had both glared in a way that shook even me. I had moved back to following them soon afterwards.

Now, the two of them stood opposite one another on the banks of Konohagakure's lake, the rest of us standing several meters away, awaiting the imminent fight. None of us gathered wanted to get in the crossfire of the battle of wills.

I watched warily as the two of them slowly slid into two different combat positions, crossing my arms and activating my mighty Byuukagen to better observe this battle; Sasuke's chakra coils were almost exactly as I remembered them to be, and I finally took the chance to examine Jimi's... wait... there was no way! His chakra coils couldn't be like that! 

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 6** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay, I'm sorry if the characters are OOC in any way, I knew where this was going... just had some trouble getting it there... Oh, and if anyone knows the name of that lake I would greatly appreciate it! It's the one that younger Sasuke is seen at in all the flashbacks...

Till next time,  
this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	7. Chapter 7

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

Non-jutsu Translations:

Kiseichu Parasite

**Chapter 7**

**Last Time on Kisses from a Rose!**

We had arrived where Jimi and Sasuke, on some silent agreement, had come to settle their differences.

During our transit I had once caught up to them and when I opened my mouth to speak, they had both glared in a way that shook even me. I had moved back to following them soon afterwards.

Now, the two of them stood opposite one another on the banks of Konohagakure's lake, the rest of us standing several meters away, awaiting the imminent fight. None of us gathered wanted to get in the crossfire of the battle of wills.

I watched warily as the two of them slowly slid into two different combat positions, crossing my arms and activating my mighty Byuukagen to better observe this battle; Sasuke's chakra coils were almost exactly as I remembered them to be, and I finally took the chance to examine Jimi's... wait... there was no way! His chakra coils couldn't be like that!

////////////////////////////// **Kiba's PoV **//////////////////////////////

'_This isn't good…' _I couldn't help but think as I looked between the two of them, _'They're both so pissed off it looks like they want to rip each others throats out… I'm all for a good fight but… they're supposed to be allies now… and they look ready to kill one another… really kill one another…'_

Neither of them knew what they were dealing with… Sasuke was the number one rookie in the entire village… and Jimi was, well, Jimi; he was like Shino like that, you just don't want to mess with him… right?

My enhanced hearing barely picked up a small growl-like sound coming from Sasuke as the angsty boy shifted, pulling a kunai from one of his back pouches, holding it before him backhand and glaring even more of them straight at Jimi.

Jimi stood with his legs set at shoulder width and his hands by his side, it didn't look like a fighting stance at first but the tension was visible in his exposed neck and at the corners of his mouth, I could only guess that was his fighting stance.

The tension in the air thick enough that Akamaru scampered into my coat, his head peeking out from the neck of my jacket; personally I wanted to crawl in there with him but I had to keep strong… there were ladies around to impress after all.

My thoughts were cut off when Jimi started to move, raising his hands slowly and bringing them towards one another, Sasuke tensed up, preparing himself even as the rest of us watching grew steadily more nervous.

Jimi seemed to be teasing us by taking his damn time putting his hands into the seal, holding them in the ram seal for several moments.

Then he spun into action, twirling on the ball of his foot with his arms out, green blurs sprouting from his long sleeves.

He brought his arms down in front of him, the whip-like blurs slamming down where Sasuke had been moments before, kicking up dust. We only had a fraction of time to look at the whips while they were still, Jimi was already moving them again, but it was enough.

The whips were long vines, and when Jimi flicked his forearms the two whips that came from his sleeves snapped at Sasuke once more, literally.

Sasuke leapt back once more, but this time he retaliated, moving his hands through had symbols even in the air.

Rat Tiger Dog Ox Rabbit Tiger "Katon- Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Release- Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)" as he landed he inhaled, then forcefully exhaled, multiple smaller fireballs blasted out from his mouth, arcing towards Jimi.

The surprise showed on Jimi's face for just a moment before he spun, distinctly reminding me of Neji's kaiten as the vines pulled back to encircle him.

A number of the shinobi present winced as the fireballs exploded on and around Jimi's protective dome of vines.

Everyone glanced at a smirking Sasuke as the smoke cleared, the only two of his fangirls that had been able to follow us _Ahem – Sakura and Ino – Ahem _prepared to cheer violently just as I turned to go help the likely charred tree-boy.

Only to see the blackened vines crumble around him, revealing a relatively unhurt Jimi; there were several small burn marks on his clothes and one on his cheek but otherwise he was unharmed.

A collective gasp rippled through the audience (which, unfortunately, is exactly what we were), the combatants ignoring us as Jimi raised his hands to place them into a seal, stopping when Sasuke's smirk widened.

Jimi and I noticed it at the same time, on the audiences' side of Jimi there was a kunai embedded in the ground, with a sizzling exploding tag on it!

Jimi began to dive to towards the lake, his feet were barely off the ground when the exploding tag went off, the shock-wave washing over me even as far away as I was, Jimi was sent skipping across the water, tumbling as he did.

Jimi righted himself on his fourth skip, skidding to a halt on the water; much of his right sleeve was now smoking tatters, a large new burn adorning the exposed skin on his arm.

Jimi straightened from his crouch, looking across the water at a smugly grinning Sasuke. As he began rolling his injured shoulder Jimi spoke up, his deep voice carrying across the distance, "You know, I've been wondering… ever since I saw you come into the ramen shop, you have a following of fan-girls… yet you don't seem to be going out with a single one of them… are you gay?"

Even from this bad angle I was sure everyone could see the shock on Sasuke's face, Jimi had made a valid point, one that left the entire audience, especially Sasuke's fangirls, speechless.

The killing intent coming off of Sasuke had vanished for just a moment when Jimi had spoke, most likely in shock; now it was starting to pour off of him, his body tensing, tendons creaking, and a small growl escaping his throat, it felt like Gaara all over again.

Sasuke nearly exploded off of the shoreline, his feet barely grazing dirt or water as he blurred into motion.

My eyes widened as it hit me,_ 'He's actually going to kill him!'_

////////////////////////////// **Sasuke's PoV **//////////////////////////////

'_He's going to die'_

I could feel the tingle in my eyes as my sharingan activated, the familiar sensation of time slowing down, everything coming into focus at once.

'_I am going to __**kill**__ him'_

The bastard on the water in front of me began to shift, I could see where his arms were headed, a defensive stance.

I was barely twenty feet away now; he was only halfway into his stance.

Fifteen feet.

Ten.

Five.

I swung a right hook straight through his partially formed defense, my fist connecting solidly with his cheek, his face jerking to the side.

I saw the sweep of his left arm long before he was halfway to hitting me, my foot twisting on the water before I moved behind him, using the same high speed that I had used against Gaara.

He turned only to have my fist contact with his cheek once more, knocking him flying through the air.

I could see him righting himself in the air; he was going to land on his feet.

I charged at him again, rolling along the surface of the water, my heel connecting with his face even as he landed; continuing with the spin I grabbed his top with both hands and pulled him forward into my rising knee, catching him in the stomach.

I hadn't been able to see that my blows wouldn't faze him, and even though I could see the head-but coming there wasn't anything I could do to avoid or block it from this position.

Thus his hands grabbed by arms, holding me in place as his head shot forward, his forehead colliding with mine soundly and sending me tumbling away.

I skidded to a halt some distance away from him on the water, standing with a small wince. That had hurt; it felt like he had hit me with a crowbar and not just his forehead. It was then that I noticed that my knuckles, knee, and heel hurt some, not much, but it was noticeable. Everything I had hit him with felt like I had hit a brick wall instead.

I caught a smirk forming on his lips before he spoke, his tone just as taunting as his words, "That all you got?"

I couldn't help the smirk that crossed my face, he couldn't win, he was moving far to slow, he had to know it, I was just going to taunt him with it, "You can't win, I ca-"

"Can't win?" I scowled when he interrupted me, chuckling in his arrogance, "Well… if I can't win… then why, especially after all those blows to the face," he lifted his injured arm and adjusted his opaque shades with his middle finger, "Why are my shades still on?"

'_I'm going to kill him.'_

I did my best to restrain the anger bubbling inside of me, speaking through clenched teeth, "Then I guess I'll just have to try harder to knock them off of you."

I dashed towards him, but this time instead of lunging at him again I circled him, enjoying his momentary confusion as he looked around himself at the wake in the water I was kicking up. I was waiting for an opening to set him straight, he would learn-

'_There!'_

I felt my muscles protest as I called upon Lee's taijutsu once more, my foot connecting solidly with his chin, knocking him high into the air.

I landed on my hands and feet, launching myself off of the water at him, grinning as, for just a moment, we hung in the air, my index and middle fingers pressing against his back.

I tapped his back, swinging my leg up and unsurprised when his arm came up to block the blow to his side.

I spun in the other direction as we hung there in space, swinging my legs, tipping him off to another kick; switching to a backhand blow aimed for his face.

Only to have the back of my hand connect with his forearms, he had seen through the feint and blocked my blow, interrupting my Shishi Rendan (Lion Combo).

This didn't mean he wasn't vulnerable still though; I wrenched my arm and accelerated gravity's hold on him, sending him crashing into the water and propelling myself even higher into the air.

I slapped my hands together, he wouldn't be far underwater and would be getting out soon; taijutsu didn't seem to do much to him, but that exploding tag had thrown him for a loop, a Gokakyu no Jutsu was in order.

Snake Tiger –

The bubbles created by Jimi's impact with the water were clearing; I could see him through the water now with my sharingan… he had finished a jutsu!

Damn! His right arm was sheathed in what looked like a long thorn, he aimed the thorn at me and it fired off of his arm, bursting free of the water and flying towards me at high speed!

– Monkey Boar –

I twisted in the air, the tip of the thorn missing me even though the blunt edge connected with my side, sending me spinning in the air; but he had missed.

As I kept spinning in the air I caught a glimpse of Jimi in the wate- Damn!

– Horse Tiger

His hands were in a Ram seal, I could see the chakra moving from him to behind me; the thorn.

I let myself keep spinning so I faced the thorn, just in time as the large projectile shattered into hundreds of slivers of wood which came flying down at me.

I inhaled, gathering my chakra into my chest, and blew forth a concentrated fireball, catching the high speed splinters that would've have hit me other wise as they rained down.

As the rain of thorns ended, my momentum carried me farther away from Jimi, forcing me to land almost fifty feet away from him.

He pulled himself out of the water, standing on the water, drenched and facing me. His face cracked into a smirk and I scowled at him, _'The hell is he smirking about?' _

He moved his hand and tapped the side of his shades, full out grinning at me, "They're still on."

'_I am definitely going to kill him.'_

That was it! I'm through holding back! I nearly slammed my hands together as my vision started to flood red, my hands moving quickly through the seals.

I didn't even register the hand seals, all I was aware of was gripping my right forearm tightly as the chakra built up in my hand, the distinctive sound building.

The sound of the Chidori.

The surprise flitted across his face, I didn't care.

I nearly flew across the water at him, a distant part of my mind noting the massive wake I was creating.

He brought his uninjured arm up in front of his chest as I closed in, his other arm not moving fast enough.

I thrust the chidori through his arm, encountering almost as much resistance as I had against Gaara's absolute defense, and it was over.

Even my sharingan could barely keep up with the last few seconds of the chidori's thrust. I took in the scene before me now that it was done, the lightning like chakra still pouring from my hand.

I had hit his forearm; that had been the resistance. My chidori had gone straight through one of the bones in his arm, I could feel the other bone pressing against my bloody arm; but his arm had done its job, deflecting my chidori from his heart. My still charged hand, instead of being imbedded in the left side of his chest like I had intended, was lodged almost up to my thumb in the center; not what I was aiming for but he was still dead.

Blood seeped from his wounds onto my arm and hand; some was flecked upon my face and clothes, his head drooped and my sharingan caught sight of blood dripping slowly from his lips.

I grinned as I watched his shades fall from his limp face into the water. The buzz in my eyes faded, my sharingan deactivating, the sound of the chidori fading as well.

"I win."

I tugged at the hand imbedded in him, it seemed stuck, so I placed my other hand on his shoulder, moving to pull my hand free.

A hand on the arm lodged inside him stopped me.

My eyes widened, he should be dead!

The hand began to squeeze and I could hear the bones in my arm pop, a bruise already forming under his hand.

He spoke softly, looking up at my shocked face as he held me in place, "You win? We're just getting started."

He pulled a leg up as I snapped out of it, struggling to get away before-

The sole of his foot connected soundly with my chest, my right arm pulling free of him as I got knocked flying; the wind being blasted out of me.

I went tumbling and skipping across the water, pain throbbing through my body each time I bounced on the water.

I finally righted myself, standing somewhat unsteadily on the water as I caught my breath and tried to figure out what the hell had happened.

Jimi still stood, his newly injured left arm dangling at his side, blood seeping out of it and dripping off of his hand into the water. He stood there, rubbing the hole in his chest and glaring at me across the water. He should be dead. I had hit him just as I thought I had; it was definitely a fatal blow… so how the hell was he still standing?

'_No matter. I'll make sure I drop him with the next blow.'_

I activated my sharingan once more, the chakra pouting into my right hand, the sound filling the air.

I **will **kill him.

He held his burnt right hand in front of him in half of the horse seal, then throwing his arm to the side, a long blade of wood bursting free from the back of his hand. He held the blade in front of him, glaring at me, mouthing the words 'Try it again pussy.'

'_Oh, I'll try it again.'_

I ignored the screaming of my muscles as I ran at high speeds, I paid no attention to the throbbing pain in my chest with my every breath, I disregarded the chakra I saw pouring off of him; he was going to die.

The chidori screamed in my hand as I came within the final stretch once again, thrusting my hand forward towards his chest, his own blade of wood moving to meet it.

The next thing I knew, there was this powerful jerk and I was being held above the ground by my right arm.

I looked over snarling at whoever had interrupted our fight, surprised to see that Jimi had spun to glare at the person as well.

At least until we realized who it was.

It was the new Hokage. Tsunade-sama.

Damn.

She was glaring at the both of us intensely, when she spoke her voice was soft but laced with fury, coming out as a violent hiss, "Are you two out of your minds? You could've killed one another."

I looked away, unable to look her in the eye, but Jimi spoke up, "Pardon me, but that's what we were going for."

I looked up to see him staring intensely at the Hokage, he had balls, I'd give him that.

I heard his forearm snap and watched him wince; the Hokage had just squeezed his arm and broken it. I swallowed at the thought; his bones had slowed down the chidori… I didn't want to know what she could do to me.

"You two are acting like children-"

"Last I checked, we were just that."

Yep, he had balls.

Her eyes narrowed at him, the anger pouring off of her in waves before she turned, dragging the two of us along, "We're going to the hospital."

I had been expecting worse, but I certainly wasn't complaining, then Jimi spoke up yet again, "Tsunade…"

"What?" her voice sounded as tense as she looked at the moment.

"… can I get my shades?" I blinked, his voice was no longer held that commanding and arrogant tone in it… it almost sounded… scared…

The Hokage's eyes softened some, letting go of his arm and dropping him to the water. He turned, quickly finding the floating sunglasses and returning them to his face; then returning silently to Tsunade-sama, who grabbed him by the scruff of his neck before taking off with the two of us.

I thought back to the fight itself after he had lost his shades, trying to understand why he was so adamant to wearing the shades, I hadn't gotten a very good look at his eyes in that short period of time but my sharingan was activated so I should have an image of it in my… oh my… no wonder…

////////////////////////////// **Kiba's PoV **//////////////////////////////

The audience had watched in near silent shock as Jimi and Sasuke had fought; unable to move or interfere if just due to the killing intent radiating off the two of them. I had sent Akamaru off to get help soon after the exploding tag had had gone off. He had returned with the Hokage herself.

Even I had only been just able to pick up their exchanged insults during the fight, my enhanced hearing only could do so much y'know…

I know everyone present was startled out of their wits when that distinctive sound screeched across the lake, Sasuke was using that one technique, thousand birds or something like that… a killing blow technique.

By the time anyone had shook off the shock Sasuke had embedded his hand in Jimi's chest, a strangled gasp escaping most of the girls here and some of the guys, I had heard Naruto softly murmer, "No… Sasuke…"

Then Jimi had kicked Sasuke off of him, everyone knew Jimi should've been dead, we didn't need to see it up close to know he shouldn't have survived that.

I think that's when Tsunade-sama showed up, 'cause Akamaru made a sound like he as he was dropped beside me.

Tsunade-sama had practically teleported across the water to interrupt their attacks as Sasuke charged another thousand birds at Jimi, holding the two of them up by their forearms. I didn't hear what went between them, so there was no way anyone else had either, but I know that Tsunade-sama had let Jimi go so he could get something, then taken off with the two of them in tow.

"W-What just happened?" Naruto had spoken up first, looking at Shelby-chan, "How did your brother survive-"

She interrupted him softly, "It's our bloodline…"

We all waited for her to continue, all of us except Neji; I had forgotten the guy was here, "So that's why both of your chakra coils are actually vines isn't it." It wasn't a question.

"Yeah…" this time everyone was quiet, waiting for the orange haired girl to go on, "Um… well, not only does our clan put this plant inside our chests when we're born, called a kiseichu, that _becomes_ our chakra coils… my brother uses his so much that… that damage for him is just, different… it's more general. So… even though he'll live… he'll be recovering for weeks…"

As she spoke her usually loud voice had dropped to hardly more than a whisper, rubbing her arm with a hand, "But in exchange for being so hard to actually hurt… as you have seen… he's not very fast moving… anyone here is probably faster than him…"

Shelby-chan was silent as she stared at the ground, as was everyone else as they digested this new information.

How would this change everything? Or more importantly, how would that fight have changed how everyone reacts?

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 7** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Holy shit… I updated in time… Well anyways, there's only one announcement I would like to make:

**I apologize if my OC's seemed unbelievably powerful. ****They have reasons for appearing as such.**They are not as powerful as I've made them seem; they have just been in they're element. Like challenging Rock Lee to a Taijutsu match… I'll avoid spoilers as best I can but there will be a general explanation on my author's page.

Till next time, this is mister Fluffykins signing off!


	8. Chapter 8

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 8**

////////////////////////////// **Naruto's PoV** //////////////////////////////

I sat on the roof of a shop across from the hospital, my legs dangling over the edge and my arms in my lap while I hunched over. I was debating with myself over one, very, _very, _crucial point.

Who to see first.

Both Jimi and Sasuke-teme were in the hospital, they had been admitted yesterday afternoon. After our little group of on-lookers had gotten over the shock of what Shelby-chan had said we had, as one big group, checked up on Jimi and Sasuke-teme in the hospital… and we were told to come back tomorrow.

That hadn't bothered me as much as it could have… after what Sasuke-teme had done to Jimi…

Which was the whole problem damnit! Usually there wouldn't be any real problem, go mess with Sasuke-teme for a bit, maybe taunt him a little for getting so beat up after a fight, then go see my newer friend. Easy right?

Wrong!

Jimi had been hurt so bad…Sasuke-teme had gone overboard… Shelby-chan had reassured all of us several times that he would live even without medical attention but…you don't just keep going after being stabbed like that…

That look on Sasuke's face when he fought Jimi… it was almost as bad as when he saw his brother… he was honestly trying to kill Jimi there…

I had come out here early… right about 10 in the morning, right when visiting hours started. I should know, I've been in there enough. I walked right up to the doors… then turned around.

It had just occurred to me when I was almost in the door the problem of who to see first, I didn't know and didn't want to take up space in the hospital so I went right back outside to think about it.

While I had been thinking a bunch of people I knew had gone into the hospital.

Sakura-chan and Ino had gone in, Sakura-chan had two white flowers, probably for Jimi and Sasuke-teme, and Ino had gone in with a rose, definitely for Sasuke-teme. They had both come out a bit later without their flowers.

Hinata had gone in with Kiba following her; it looked like she was carrying one of those medicine containers like she had given me at the chunnin matches; definitely for Jimi. She came out without it; so this meant that both Sasuke-teme _and _Jimi were able to get visitors. So I had to choose which one to visit first.

'_Kuso… Sasuke-teme is my best friend but Jimi could've been killed! GAH! WHO DO I VISIT FIRST!? They're definitely in different rooms, 'cause there's no way Tsunade-oba-chan would be crazy enough to put those two together! They were ready to kill one another!'_

////////////////////////////// **Sasuke's PoV** //////////////////////////////

'_I can't believe that we got stuck in the same room…' _

Tsunade-sama **must** be crazy to have put that bastard and me in the same room.

The only reason I'm still in the hospital is because of the surprising amount of damage I had actually suffered. When I had woken up at six like I usually did, I had promptly spent the next hour or so trying to calm the raging migraine in my head.

Jimi's headbut hadn't just been snapping his neck out; he had bent his entire body and put all the power of his torso and neck behind his forehead. That, combined with the fact that his bones seemed to be as hard as steel and his high tolerance for pain, means major pain for his opponent. He's the only person who could've made a simple headbut so damaging. Tsunade-sama had said that I had several hairline fractures in the front of my skull from his attack.

But he had hit me twice; _twice!_ My sharingan told me how that headbut was so strong but it had been deactivated when he had kicked me in the chest; he had probably used some form of trick to increase the power of his kick… it had cracked my sternum for kami's sake!

If that had been everything I probably would've been able to go home with Tsunade-sama's high level medical ninjutsu… but… unfortunately it wasn't…

He had only hit _me _twice, I had hit him quite a few. I didn't notice it with all the adrenaline pumping in me but I had bruised my knuckles and had a hairline fracture in my right arm. Hitting him in hand-to-hand _**is**_ just as bad as hitting a brick wall.

Turns out that only so much damage can be healed safely with medical jutsu in a short period of time; Tsunade-sama would be coming in sometime today to finish the healing.

With that in mind, I was curious about something… once we got to the hospital Tsunade-sama helped restore Jimi's bones; then she had him taken to a room and left him alone to treat me.

After she had treated me she had one of the nurses take me to a room, when I had gotten in I was greeted by the sight of a sleeping Jimi in a bed by the window.

I had balked until the nurse had said it was explicit orders from Tsunade-sama, at which point I grudgingly went to the other bed in the room, lying down. I had fallen sleep from exhaustion not much after that.

After about an hour of wrestling with that migraine a nurse came in to check in on us, bringing me a couple aspirin and breakfast at my request.

After my headache had settled down enough, I proceeded to glare at Jimi's still sleeping form for most of the morning. He was still asleep when two of the most persistent of my fan girls came in.

They both gave me a flower, after which Ino promptly glared at my 'bunkmate' and proceeded to ask me (loudly I might add) the same question I had been asking myself: Why was I put in here with him?

At this point Jimi woke up and did something I wish I could do, he scared off Ino.

He had said something along the lines of, 'Be quiet… I'm trying to sleep.'

I've forgotten what Ino replied, it was something like, 'You shouldn't have started that fight with Sasuke-kun!'

Jimi had sat up slowly even as she spoke, and with still closed eyes reached over to the table beside him; with exaggerated slowness he put those damnedable shades back on his face, letting the glasses hang a little down his nose, with the glass down as it was his eyelids were visible.

Then his eyes snapped open, his unusual orbs staring straight into Ino's as he spoke, his voice as intense as his eyes, "This is our quarrel, and you're not part of it."

Ino had scooted towards the door before quickly and nervously excusing herself, Sakura had left soon afterwards with a bit more dignity, stopping before she closed the door to remind us not to kill each other.

It had taken me a few moments to stifle the smile that had threatened to spread across my face at the following though: Jimi was fangirl repellent! Who knew?

When I turned back to Jimi though, I had to stifle a growl. He had plopped back down onto the bed and seemed to have fallen asleep once more, completely ignoring me.

We had spent a little while like that; me glaring at Jimi as he lay down on the bed. I think it was about 1:00 when another Nurse came to check in on us, bringing us both some lunch and me some more aspirin.

Not long ago that Hyuuga girl, Hinata I think, and one of her teammates came in to visit. The girl had brought a thing of medicine to give to Jimi.

Those two had left a few minutes ago, and lo and behold, Jimi had dropped back onto the bed. This had prompted me to wonder why we were in the same room once more.

Now, after several minutes of pondering and silently glaring at him, I was ready to make my move.

"Like the Hyuuga girl huh?" I smirked at him, confidence filling my voice; that smile that he had given her, the gentleness in his voice when speaking to her, only one conclusion.

"Like the pink-haired nobody huh?"

'_Wha-!? Sakura is not a nobody damnit! And I don't like her!'_

"You didn't deny it," I pointed out with another smirk.

"Neither did you," he replied bluntly, propping himself up on his elbows to look at me.

I could feel my cheeks heat up some but ignored it, "What makes you think I like her? You yourself accused me of being gay."

His head cocked to the side, "It's in how you looked at her. I didn't see it when we were in the ramen stand but you look at her differently… your gaze lingered on both her and the flower that she brought you… your eyes softened, some of the tension left from around your eyes when you looked at her… some of that wall you seem so desperate to keep up slipped when you watched her leave."

My mind was drawing a blank. The way he put it, I liked Sakura… which I didn't!

I finally pulled myself out of it and responded, "What about how you acted around the Hyuuga girl?"

"Your point?"

I ground my teeth together before crossing my arms and glaring out the window beside my bed.

We spent the next couple minutes in silence; Jimi had adjusted his bed so he was propped up like I had been most of the morning.

"Why are you so sensitive over the death of your clan?"

The question cleaved through the silence. I swiveled a shocked glare at where he lay across from me. Did he really want to fight again!? Because I was more than willing to ki-

The rage died in me as I looked at his somber face staring out the window, he lay there in the large green coat Tsunade-sama wore most of the time, his arms draped across his stomach. He was actually asking seriously, not trying to goad me or insult me.

I looked back out the window, not able to look at him as I spoke, "My older brother killed all of them… in one night…" I didn't know why I was able to say that so easily to him, we had tried to kill each other and yet…

He continued to stare out the window silently, I was almost wondering whether he was going to respond or not when he spoke, his voice so soft that I had trouble hearing him, "… were you there when he did it?"

I started, turning to look at him once more; he was no longer looking out the window, but at the floor beside his bed, his face tightened as if remembering something horrible.

"No… I wasn't… I… I found my parents dead with my brother standing over them… I ran out screaming-"

"And found that everyone else was dead as well… running into your brother who taunted you and knocked you out…"

I stared at him shocked, how had he known!?

He looked up at me with a small, sad smile, "Looks like I guessed right… you'd be able to relate with my sister more than me…" I felt his eyes drift away from my face to the floor once more even before his face shifted, "She found our parents dead when she woke up, when se ran out she ran into our clans' murderer… he was like a big brother to both of us…"

As this sunk in, something else bothered me… there was so much hurt in his voice as he spoke… "Where… were _you_?"

He looked up at me, peering over his opaque shades, "I was being dragged around and doused in my family's blood… my frie… my _former_ friend had taken me from my bed… rendered me incapable of moving… then taken me along to watch as he crushed every member of my clan between his hands…"

My eyes widened, and something sparked in my mind, _'He could understand! He could actually understand what I've gone through!' _"Then you know the pain! You can understand the need for vengeance! We can help each othe-"

"NO!"

I was taken back by the fierceness of his tone, his entire body tense as he gripped the edges of his bed, "Sasuke… I can understand your pain… I can even understand your desire for vengeance… but I **will not** seek revenge… and neither should you… that path only leads to more pain… more sorrow… more hate… forget revenge…"

I was shaken, here was someone who could understand the pain of loss… yet he was telling me not to seek revenge?

"For all the pain we have gone through… for all the hurt we must endure… it must be true that you and I are not fortunate… but…" his eyes softened at this as did his tone, "We've found good friends haven't we?"

Unbidden, images of Sakura and Naruto came to my mind even as he continued speaking, "Because of your losses you should understand… the power that you and I have, the natural gifts of both a genius and a kekke genkai… they are not to be used against your comrades… nor for revenge. You should be able to understand what that kind of power is to be used for."

My jaw worked silently for several moments, but before any coherent response could escape me, the door began to open. I shut my mouth and tried to regain my composure, mostly succeeding before the door was fully open.

Tsunade-sama and her assistant came into the room. Tsunade-sama looked back and forth between the two of us, then a small smile spread across her face, "At least you two aren't trying to kill one another anymore."

////////////////////////////// **Several hours later** //////////////////////////////

My mind kept replaying what had happened today. Again and again.

Tsunade-sama and her assistant had given both me and Jimi a checkup, surprisingly she had said Jimi was good enough to return to the Hyuuga household for bed rest; I was released after the Hokage finished healing my bones.

I had thought about what Jimi had said. His sister seemed to have gone through something similar to what I had… and it looked like he would've been able to say he had gone through worse until I had been subjected to _**that man's **_Mangekyou Sharingan…

He had stopped by the room after the Hokage and her assistant had left, just before I had left as well… what he had said to me then… those words rang through my head…

'"_Give up on your vengeance Sasuke … I gave up on mine a long time ago… if I hadn't I would've lost what little I had left… lighten up… change your path… or you'll kill yourself…'"_

The words had reverberated in my head for hours. I had gone to a tree in the center of the city to ponder what he had said. Not long after I had arrived there Kakashi-sensei had come, restating what Jimi had said, and chastising me for using the Chidori on a comrade.

I had sat there until I could see the moon over the buildings around me, my mind nearly made up; images of my friends and Itachi bouncing back and forth in my head.

But then… then I had run into those four from Orochimaru…

They had… reminded me of my purpose in life.

I was an avenger.

My mind was brought back to my surroundings by the sound of footsteps other than my own. There across from me, stood Sakura.

"What are you doing wandering around her in the middle of the night?"

"Because in order to get out of this village, you have to take this road," her voice was soft and her eyes downcast.

I began to move around her, walking slowly, my hands in my pockets.

She spoke, and I didn't stop, "Why? Why won't you tell me anything?"

'_Because it would hurt you more.'_

"Why do you always stay silent?"

'_Because I can't lie to you.'_

"Why won't you say anything to me?"

'_Because getting too close to you would hurt you more…' _

I couldn't let her keep this up, I might waver; I stopped walking and demanded, "Why do I have to tell you anything?"

I could faintly hear tears hitting the pavement, "It's none of your business. Stop concerning yourself with what I do." _'You'll only hurt us both more…'_

There was a difference in her voice when she spoke again, "You've… always hated me, huh?"

I couldn't turn to look at her as she continued, "Do you remember…the day we became Genin and when our three-member team was first chosen? When you and me were here alone, you got mad at me remember?"

"I don't remember."

She continued on, "Makes sense… That's something that happened a while back. But that's the day everything started… You and I… and also Naruto and Kakashi-sensei…" memories that I didn't want anymore, memories of times that we had spent together as a team, began to appear in my mind, "The four of us completed a number of missions together. They were tough and a lot of work, but… above all… it was fun!"

I hadn't budged; I couldn't turn to look at her now, especially as she went on, "I knew about your clan, but revenge… that won't make anyone happy. No one," the shadow of a cloud slowly passed over both of us, "Neither you, nor I."

The ghost of a smile crossed across my lips as she finished, "Just as I thought. I'm different from you guys. I walk a different path than you guys. I tried to think it was my path to do the things we've done until now. The four of us did things together, but my heart decided on revenge in the end. That's my purpose in life. I can't become like you or Naruto."

"Are you going to choose to be alone again?! On that day you taught me that solitude is painful!" her voice was becoming steadily more emotional as she spoke, "I understand that so well now… I have a family, and I have friends, but if you're gone…" I could hear her take a step towards me, "To me… it'll be the same as being alone!"

That image… the picture of our team… it flashed in my head once more, "From here on… A new path will open for all of us."

She interrupted me, "I..! I love you so much! If you stay with me, I'll make sure you won't regret it! Every day will be fun. We'll definitely be happy. I'll do anything for you… so… please! Stay here! I'll help you with your revenge. I'll do something! So please stay here… with me! If you can't stay," the clouds parted once more, moonlight shining down upon us, "take me with you."

She began to sob quietly and I finally turned, looking at her with a smirk, "You really _are_ annoying." The look of shock on her face made something inside me break even as I turned to leave.

"Don't leave!"

'_I have to…'_

"If you do, I'll scream!"

I moved behind her quickly, her voice dying out as I stood silently behind her.

"Sakura…" I was close to her… I could smell her shampoo, I could see individual strands of her hair moving in the wind, I swore I could hear her heartbeat, "… thank you…"

I could hear the soft intake of air as she straightened at my words, I hoped she knew what I was thanking her for… no… I knew she knew.

I knocked her out as gently as I could, catching her as she collapsed, with her unconscious form in my arms I felt my heart waver one last time, but only once.

I picked her up and lay her down on a bench before leaving, I couldn't leave her on the ground… one of my few friends…

As I left, Jimi's words rung through my head once more… louder than ever… louder than anything Kakashi-sensei had said… louder than Naruto's voice had ever been…

'"_Give up on your vengeance Sasuke … I gave up on mine a long time ago… if I hadn't, I would have lost what little I had left… lighten up… change your path… or you'll kill yourself…'"_

The look in Jimi's eyes… the pain in his gaze…

I knew he was right.

Continuing to pursue vengeance would likely kill me… and if the pursuit of my vengeance did not kill me, then the pain of everything I would have to give up to achieve it would…

But I couldn't just forget Itachi… vengeance must be done… but he wasn't the only one, not anymore… from now on I had two targets.

My brother, slayer of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi; and Jimi's old friend, the slayer of the Barakuchizuke clan.

I would find them both, and vengeance would be served. I would do it, so neither Jimi or Shelby would have to.

Even though we had gotten off on the wrong foot… even though we had tried to kill one another… he had tried to help me… Jimi had made his choice, what he had left was more precious to him than revenge …

He was right… pursuing the path of vengeance was self destructive… a path he couldn't afford. But I had decided long ago that _**I**_ was, am, and always shall be an avenger.

It shall be my burden; and my burden alone; I shall bear it so no one else shall have to.

No matter the cost.

As I approached the hill the four warriors from the sound were upon, my heart had hardened.

I must get stronger, no matter what.

I am an avenger.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 8** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Damn… I hope I can make a habit out of updating like this… I want to get away from the uber angst that is this chapter… ugh… Anyways, now we're getting into the actual storyline/plot of the story. Oh, and the first person who can guess on what I based Jimi's line that scared off Ino gets a cookie… or possibly honorable mention… depends on which they want…

So, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	9. Chapter 9

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 9**

////////////////////////////// **Shikamaru's PoV** //////////////////////////////

I allowed myself to yawn expansively from where I sat at the family dinner table… even though it was breakfast. My father sitting across from me and a bit to the left, my own breakfast in front of me; which my mother kindly reminded me of as she walked up.

"Hurry up and eat, Shikamaru!" kindly reminding me by saying such in a loud and obnoxious voice, "Your father has a mission today and there isn't much time for us to be together.

The exasperated sigh that escaped my lips was accompanied by a hanging of my head and the automatic "Hai hai" to many of my mother's requests.

This automatic response was noted and responded to in a predictable fashion by my mother's pseudo-wail of a voice, "Only one yes!"

'_She sure is being grumpy and troublesome this morning…'_

I resumed pondering the creation of a sound nullification jutsu, something to quiet troublesome women when they began wailing, it would need to avoid hand seals-

Said pondering was marginally interrupted by a small knock on the door, my mother inquiring out loud, "It's so early… I wonder who it could be?" before leaving the room to answer the door.

It was at this point that I decided to ask my dad something that had been bothering me for a while, cupping my hand to the side of my mouth to ensure that my mother would not be able to hear us I whispered to him, "Hey, dad?"

He replied with a tired "Yeah" that sounded like I usually felt, barely looking over at me.

"Why did you marry such an overbearing woman?"

My father's eyes were closed as he swirled his herbal tea around in his mouth for a moment before answering, "Well… even a woman like her has her good moments… I guess that's why."

As he sipped his tea again I didn't bother to hide my incredulous stare, my mind working as quickly as it could to try and understand why even with that answer; I couldn't come up with anything, "That's all?"

My father's delayed answer was interrupted when my mother shouted my name with a little less shriek in it than usual. I looked up to see her peek around the edge of the doorway, "The Fifth Hokage's guards have come to see you." I decided that she looked far to happy about this for the situation, the fifth's guards meant an important mission, and an important mission meant troublesome work… she was definitely far to happy.

////////////////////////////// **Not much later in the Hokage's office** //////////////////////////////

I stood in front of the Hokage's desk in my full ninja garb, chunnin vest and all. The air in the room was extraordinarily somber, the Hokage was actually sitting calmly at her desk with a stern look on her face, this had to be serious.

"Late last night, Uchiha Sasuke left the village."

A small sound escaped my throat, _'Kami-sama, it was serious…'_

"And, if I'm not mistaken, he is probably headed towards the Sound Village."

"Left!? Why?" I couldn't help the outburst that escaped my throat.

But I probably should have; the Hokage's stern expression, her hands held in front of her face, her words a deadly calm that suggested restrained anger, "Because he was invited by Orochimaru."

I was startled once more by this new information, stammering some as I interrupted her, "O-on-one second…" I could feel my hands start moving in gestures as I spoke, "Why would Sasuke be involved with such a dangerous guy?"

"The reasons don't matter. In any case, I need some time. So I would like to make this your first mission as a chunnin."

This time I wasn't thrown for a loop, "Just bring back Sasuke?" the main gears in my head working, _'If there aren't any enemies, it won't be that troublesome…'_

"Yeah," she paused for a moment, her face unchanging, "However, as easy as it sounds, it may become problematic."

The shock probably showed on my face, but she continued on, "There is a high probability that Orochimaru's men are guiding Sasuke."

I began to process the information in my head, _'This has become a troublesome mission. But he…' _an image of Sasuke flashed in my head, _'When I looked at him, I saw someone that was good at everything.' _I closed my eyes for a moment before addressing the Hokage once more.

"In that case please only assign jounin and chunnin to this mission."

She looked down and softly said, "I can't do that."

"Wha- Why?"

"You should know. Right now, almost all the jounin, except the ones needed here, are out of the village on missions." She turned her swiveling chair to the side, "Now, you have thirty minutes to collect as many talented genin as you can think of, and leave the village!"

I felt the tension in my body, this wasn't something good to hear, but it was a necessity; I turned and began to leave the Hokage's office, pausing at the door to speak, "This is going to be troublesome, but I can't just forget about someone I know," I looked over my shoulder at the buxom blonde, "Well, something has to be done."

For a moment her face remained unchanged, then she smiled and looked over at me sideways, "There is someone I'd like to recommend… two someone's actually."

////////////////////////////// **Minutes later** //////////////////////////////

"WHAT!? THAT CAN'T BE TRUE!"

I had to plug an ear as Naruto shouted in that loud voice of his, still in his obnoxious sleeping cap and pajama's, "Geez… you sure are loud in the morning…" _'But why this guy?'_

His face hardened for just a moment before he shouted, a little quieter this time, "Hold on! I'll get changed" and dashed back into his apartment; his cap falling off in his haste, leaving me standing there with a hand in the air.

Several moments later, as the light of dawn began to cover Konohagakure, Naruto and I were running along the streets to our next destination. I had fully briefed Naruto on the mission after he had gotten changed and now he was asking me a question, "Other than me, do you know any other brilliant genin?"

I looked over at him confidently, "Yeah."

I didn't even bother to explain as we arrived at the sliding door of a particular brilliant genin's house.

I began knocking repeatedly on the door and, knowing it would take more than that to wake up Chouji at this hour I called out, "Wake up!"

Naruto seemed to ask dejectedly, "Are you sure he's talented?"

I turned, seemed he wasn't getting up anytime soon normally, "There isn't much of a choice…" I reached into my back pocket as I sat down and pulled out a bag of potato chips, opening them.

"Potato chips?" Naruto really had a talent for stating the obvious didn't he?

"Barbeque flavor. Help me eat them." I wasn't going to bother explaining why we were doing this to him; it would be far too troublesome.

We munched on the chips for a few moments and with the blonde boys insatiable appetite soon had the bag nearly emptied; I turned the bag over and dumped the last chip into my hand, turning and stating what I knew was happening, "He's coming."

Naruto turned just in time to see the sliding door open and see a civilian clothed Chouji lunge to snatch both the chip and bag from my hands, skidding to a halt on the other side of us, "I'm not going to let you two have the last potato chip!"

We had stood and I had placed my hands in my pockets, Naruto however seemed exasperated from where he stood beside me, now I turned and addressed the point of having Chouji with us, "I have been on his team for some time. My relationship with him makes him easy to deal with."

Chouji smiled as he straightened and I cleared out an ear with a finger as Naruto promptly had one of his famous spastic, hyperactive moments, "I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT, BUT IN THIS CASE YOU SHOULD ASK SHINO OR SOMEONE LIKE THAT!!

"Shino's still on a special mission with his father, so he's not around."

We turned to see a boy who looked to be a bit older than us with dark green shades, Tsunade-sama had told me about this guy, "Barakuchizuke Jimi I presume?"

"Hai."

////////////////////////////// **Moments later** //////////////////////////////

The four of us were running along one of the streets of Konohagakure, I had just finished briefing the two newcomers to our situation, "I think this is going to be interesting. I guess it's a good thing I woke up early to take a walk."

Naruto spoke up, "Hey, Shikamaru, what about the others?"

I looked over at him, "I would like to find them but we don't have that much time. We'll head out of the village and if we don't find anyone else, this will be it."

As we began to pass by a large staircase in one of the numerous parks in Konoha, on the landing stood Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji; looks like we had found someone else.

It took a few moments for Neji to assist Lee down the stairs and another moment for me to explain the situation. But, true to form, Neji caught on quickly.

"Now I understand."

"It's going to be troublesome, but it would be better to have one more person on the team," Lee looked down at this statement; I didn't need to be a genius to understand what the problem was.

Neji turned to his teammate, "Lee, you should do what you need to do."

Lee startled all of us that knew him by turning around and taking a few steps with his crutch towards the stairs, pausing for a moment, "Starting tomorrow, I'll climb these stairs myself."

"Lee!"

He turned and gave us a smile, "I'll be fine, please go."

////////////////////////////// **A couple more moments later** ////////////////////////////// (Damn this is getting annoying)

The five of us stood as the massive gates of Konohagakure opened before us. The mental clock that had been ticking inside of my head dinged, thirty minutes had passed, "Times up."

I made a mental checklist of everyone on the team: Chouji, Neji, Naruto, Jimi, and myself. It's not what I would've wanted under better circumstances but it would have to do, "So, there are five of us."

Naruto's loud voice rang out as he pumped a fist into the air, "Alright then! Yeah! Everyone follow me!"

A bird chirped in the distance.

Everyone seemed to share the same or at least similar thoughts, I simply voiced them, "Hey, you know Naruto. I'm still in charge, no matter how troublesome it may be."

Naruto turned with an extremely grumpy look on his face, "Are you sure everything will… be…"

As he trailed off I looked to where his eyes had landed, which was upon the stern face of Jimi, "He'd have to be pretty damn bad to be worse than you Naruto. You're not a leader."

Chouji spoke up, "Shikamaru is a chunnin now. We have to follow his orders. It's a sign that the village leaders have accepted him as one of them," Chouji's vote of confidence was definitely appreciated.

Neji's comment, however, was not, "In that case, please act like a leader and make a plan. From what we've heard there is a high probability that they are waiting for us."

There was one thing I needed to take care of before I did just that, I looked over at Jimi, "I know everyone's capabilities except yours-"

"Defensive, reactionary style; high damage and pain tolerance; mid to long range ninjutsu specialist; primary deficiency is speed; high level tracking capability in forests and symbiosis link with tree's, if they're still in this forest, I can find them."

I processed this information; it sounded like a full shinobi capability analysis, perfect. I felt confident in the plans that were finishing in my head; it showed on my face, "For the time being we are on the offense. That means it would be easy for the enemy to make the first move. That's why, in order to protect against the enemy's random attacks, I will be deciding the formation. If you ignore me and act on your own everyone will die."

"The formation will be a line. The forerunner, who has the most important and crucial task… Jimi, that's you." He nodded curtly, "Your link with the plants around you should give you a knowledge of the terrain that we might otherwise lack," he nodded in confirmation, "This link should allow you to follow Sasuke and detect the enemy's booby traps easily," he nodded once again, "Suppose there is an attack from the front-"

"Aside from several exploding tags going off at once in my face I should be able to survive until help arrives. My safety is not an issue."

'_Good, that was exactly what I wanted to hear,' _"Second will be the leader, me. Since I'll be able to see the situation, I can give out orders in front to Jimi. I can give orders to the rear members using hand signals."

"Then in the middle is Naruto," said hyperactive boy smirked as I continued, "Being your explosive self, you are perfect for giving help in all directions. So, you are best in the center. The center of help; also you know Kage Bunshin."

The fourth will be Chouji. You don't have speed but you have the greatest physical power because of your size. Although it may be awkward, Jimi, Naruto, and I are going to use you as a base, as in home base."

"Finally Neji. I will ask you to do the most difficult and complicated task. By using your Byuukagen you'll be able to scan the and check your area."

I knelt on the ground, pulling a scroll and pencil from my chunnin vest, sketching out my concept on the paper as everyone stood around me; I point to each chibi on the paper and its' respective points of view as I speak, "Jimi as forward; myself as backup forward; Naruto as left; Chouji as right; and Neji, I ask you to you your Byuukagen to scan the back area."

As I rolled up the scroll I continued, "And I would like to check the armaments that you guys have. Please let me see what each of you have; I will remember it. Do you guys have any questions?"

At the lack of inquiries I stood, placing my hands in my pockets before I continued speaking, "And finally, this is the most important thing I have to say. I don't have a deep attachment to Sasuke, nor is he someone that I like," I could feel the shock generated by the words; ignored it as I continued, "But, he is one of Konohagakure's shinobi, a comrade. That is why we risk our lives to save him. This is the Konoha view. Even though I don't like troublesome things, I am responsible for your lives."

Jimi looked over at Naruto and Neji beside him, "You didn't trust this guy?"

I saw Chouji smile expansively; Neji spoke up, "Once I check your equipment, we will go. Everyone, take out your armaments," everyone moved. Most of us pulled out our rear pouches and opened them; I counted all of the items that we had and memorized the tools; I looked at Jimi last, he hadn't pulled out a pouch, he looked at me, "Theoretical infinite kunai and rope, six exploding tags," I nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

"Wait!"

We turned to see Sakura standing in the opened gates.

Naruto spoke up first, "Sakura-chan."

I followed up, "I heard the story from Hokage-sama. I'm sorry, but I can't bring you on this mission. Even you weren't able to convince Sasuke were you? All that's left is for us to force him to understand. Sakura, your chance is over."

"That means… you and Sasuke…" I held in a mental sigh as Naruto spoke up again, it was stifled as tears began to flow from Sakura's eyes.

Lee started to say something, "Sakura-san…" but it quickly died off as she stood there, trembling before us, tears falling from her cheeks.

"Naruto. I beg of you, please bring him… Please bring back Sasuke-kun!" her voice was in near sobs as she continued, "I couldn't do it… I couldn't stop him. The only thing left that could stop Sasuke-kun is… you, Naruto… only you…"

Naruto's eyes wavered some, a small smile spreading across his face before he looked off to the side and spoke, "Sakura-chan likes Sasuke very much. Right now, you're in pain. A pain that I know well."

Sakura half sobbed once more, wrapping her arms around herself even as Naruto gave her a sad, yet toothy grin, "Naruto… thank you!"

Naruto held out a thumbs-up towards her and grinned expansively while proudly stating, "I will definitely bring back Sasuke! That's the promise of a lifetime!"

Jimi glanced over at him, even with his eyes hidden the question was obvious, and even Naruto saw it, replying properly, "I won't go back on my word! That's my way of the Ninja!" With another vigorous pumping of his hand into the air he shouted, "YOSH! Let's go!"

I looked over at him, my analytical side still working apart from my emotional one, "We've lost a bit of time. Let's hurry."

The five of us began to walk away from Konohagakure side by side for the moment, leaving the still crying Sakura with Lee at the gates.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 9** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay, I'm officially apologizing for any spoilers for people just watching the cartoon network version of the show. But too damn bad. Anyways, for those of you who recognize it, yes, this is a lot of quotation straight from the episodes BUT there's a good reason! Shikamaru just met Jimi, and there was no reason to alter what has happened. The only difference between this fanfiction and the Naruto world itself should be the Barakuchizuke siblings.

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off

**P.S.!!! For those interested I'm taking submissions on OC's for the eventual Chunnin matches that will be held! The character's importance can change dependant on how good the character is; good defined not as strong but fleshed out. Any interested can contact me on as Andoriol and on as Jacobthecat.**


	10. Chapter 10

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 10**

////////////////////////////// **Shikamaru's PoV** //////////////////////////////

The five of us leapt through the trees in the formation that I had chosen before we left; I noted that Jimi did not lean forward as he led us. I also noted that his hand grazed the trunks of the trees as we leapt by them, his face in intense concentration.

A visible flash of tension ran through his body, he did not stop but seemed to actually speed up. Several minutes later another wave of tension ran through him, this time he actually spoke, "Shikamaru."

"Any change?"

"Yes. But not the kind you're talking about… I can't sense Sasuke himself and it seems as if the four are still carrying him… but those four and two others I hadn't sensed before have clashed… I can feel the blood in the roots… but Sasuke and his entourage are moving further away from the battlefield… who do I follow?" he glanced over his shoulder at me.

"It's as I thought… they're guiding Sasuke…" my words were assuring but my thoughts troubled.

Naruto spoke up from behind me, his voice lacking much of its usual volume, "It doesn't matter, let's hurry up and catch up to Sasuke!"

Jimi seemed to have promptly decided to voice his opinion at Naruto's outburst, "Naruto… shut it."

Naruto sputtered for a second behind me before Jimi continued, "Shikamaru is the ranking officer here, he's the only one with the authority to make those decisions in this situation." he looked over his shoulder at me, obviously waiting for said decision.

It took me a moment to reply, but my mind had been processing the information that Jimi had given me during the short exchange and I would soon have the most viable option, but I needed to think aloud for a moment, "If we head to the site of the battle we may be able to glean some information…" Jimi faced forward again but did not alter his course as I continued, "We can't approach carelessly. We need to switch back to a reconnaissance pattern and we will have to take it slow."

Neji picked up on my train of thought, "And while we do that Sasuke will cross the Fire Nations border and be beyond our reach."

"What are you going to do Shikamaru?" once again Naruto had spoken up but this time it was more reasonable.

I weighed options, I calculated probabilities, ran scenarios in my head; but it all came down to my gut feeling, "Alright, we'll follow Sasuke."

I could clearly hear Naruto from behind me, "Alright! That's how things are supposed to be done!"

I knew that Chouji could follow my thinking, I also knew that Neji was aware of the same thing I was thinking, and I would've been willing to bet that Jimi knew it too; Naruto on the other hand probably didn't, "However…"

"?"

"If there's been a fight; that means the enemy's guard will be up. So, of course, those guys will be prepared for people chasing after them. That means that there is a good chance that there is a trap waiting for us." I waited for this to settle in for a moment before continuing, "Listen up, use all of your capabilities, offensive and defensive, to their fullest. We have to find them before they can prepare for us. And if you find anything suspicious, don't simply avoid it, dismantle it."

This had the less likely of the two effects on Naruto that I expected it to have, "Yosh! If I find them I'll use my new techniques to kick their asses!"

Jimi seemed to freeze in the air in front of me before abruptly coming to a stop on the branch in front of him, throwing his arms straight out from his sides, "STOP!"

Everyone did, stopping on the same branch as he had; I immediately began to analyze our surroundings, I noticed what had made Jimi halt, but he beat me to pointing it out, "Up there."

Everyone else looked and Neji spoke up, "An explosive note… there should be more of them," he followed my thoughts at the moment of seeing the note, "This pattern creates an explosive field barrier."

"Explosive field barrier?" this time it was actually Chouji who asked the question.

I realized I had never explained what these were so I proceeded to make up for my mistake, "A kind of ninja trap. The trap is activated when a person enters the field; it then explodes after a short time. It was in one of my dad's books."

Jimi had his palm pressed against the tree on which we stood, "It's a high level form of trap laying, probably A or S rank, and these people knew what they were doing… I don't sense any openings… we'll have to take a longer route…"

////////////////////////////// **Several minutes later on the ground** //////////////////////////////

The five of us were carefully stepping over trip-wires scattered several inches above the ground, there had been an opening in the explosive field barrier lower to the ground and we were moving through it now. Jimi had removed his ninja sandals and put them into his pants pockets. At our curious looks he had replied that direct contact with the ground would make it easier to connect to the roots of the trees and sense the wires.

Jimi turned his head, "Naruto, careful, there's some more wires by your feet."

"I know…" he murmured, his foot moving over a wire, as it did his shadow passed over something else, causing a second wire to glint green in the light!

"Wait! Naruto!"

He looked down, his foot was heading straight for the wire! Damnit! He wouldn't stop it time!

I threw my shadow into his on reflex. Grabbing Chouji's scarf and pulling my body back.

Luckliy, the connection of our shadows forced Naruto to mimic my position which might have been impossible to balance for him.

Everyone else had stopped to look at Naruto as his eyes practically turned into wide white circles, I grumbled, "Kage Mane no Jutsu. (Shadow Copy Technique) Somehow I managed in time…"

Moments later, after we had gotten Naruto out of that predicament, I proceded to inform him what I thought of his little mistake, "NARUTO! I TOLD YOU TO BE CAREFUL!"

After a minute or so of examining the wires I spoke again, this time much calmer and more analytical, "I see…one of the wires is easily seen when it reflects the sunlight; but the other is painted with something green."

Neji spoke up, "It's pretty hard to see without the Byuukagen. It's a double layer trap."

This was surprising, "Even though they are hurrying, they sure put a lot of traps… that means that-"

I expected Neji to continue my line of thought, but Jimi did, "They are resting," I heard the movement of fabric and looked up to see Jimi place a hand against a nearby tree once more, looking over at Neji who nodded.

Neji activated his Byuukagen as Jimi bowed his head, Neji spoke up moments after the viens popped beside his eyes, pouring chakra into his bloodline limit, "I've found them."

This apparently excited Naruto, "Alright! Alright! I will definitely bring back Sasuke!"

"We can't rush in. Until my plan has been worked out we will not engage."

////////////////////////////// **Not much later** //////////////////////////////

We were moving through the forest slowly on foot. The five of us had split into two groups as per my plan; now we were close to where Jimi and Neji had said the Sound nin were, I crouched behind a bush and peered through a gap in the leaves. I could spot them sitting together through the trees, "Seems like they haven't noticed us yet…" I looked closer and what Jimi had said was confirmed, "Sasuke isn't around…"

Neji, my partner, spoke from beside me, I looked over to see that his Byuukagen was activated, "Seems like he is in the barrel."

Something sparked in my mind as I looked at the barrel, "Is he dead?!"

Neji took a second to reply, "There seems to be some sort of barrier around the barrel… it's hard to see through it… but I don't think those guys, who wanted Sasuke so badly, would kill him so readily…"

He had a point, "That may be true…" I turned back to the group; my attention was drawn to the silver haired member.

He turned and threw out his arm! A glint of metal could be seen in the air! Shit!

Before either Neji or I could react the kunai had embedded itself in the tree behind us and I could hear that distinctive sizzle! We turned to see that three exploding tags were attached to the kunai!

We leapt away quickly, only to be caught in the white hot blast.

I attempted to blink the spots from my eyes as I skidded across the ground on my stomach; my chunnin vest finally being useful and buffering myself from the dirt as I kicked up a wake of dust and small stones. I was vaguely aware of Neji skidding along beside me.

The two of us struggled into a crouching position; I was coughing some as I looked at the four, strange sound nin before us. They all had signs of tough combat on their bodies, scruffs and scrapes over them along with smudges of dirt.

The silver-haired one, probably the leader, spoke up, "What's this? I thought they were snakes, but they were nothing more than insects."

The fat, orange-haired one half crouched into a combat stance and I stood quickly, holding my hands in front of me in what I hoped was a placating manner, "Wait, wait! We aren't here to fight. Rather, we are here to negotiate."

The one with the ponytail and multiple arms spoke this time, his smirk evident, "Then what are these?!" he finished his sentence by pulling two hands forward, the sounds of wires moving through the air reaching my ears. Our three other companions came flying through the air, mid flight Naruto dropped a smoke bomb between the sound nin and us just before my three companions landed in front of Neji and I on their asses.

The dark smoke rose up, concealing my next movement as I threw my shadow out under the smoke, attatching it to the four of theirs.

The pony-tailed guy went on with a laugh, "What was the point of that smoke bomb? You can't escape from me! These are better than wires. They are thinner, more durable, and almost impossible to see. I'll be able to take care of you guys with this wire."

"Shit…" I hadn't thought that someone could have a capability like this; something occurred to me as Naruto continued to mutter 'Ow', "That trap with two kinds of wire put in intentionally… A three layer trap…? This is bad. Who would've expected someone with those kind of abilities existed?"

The pony-tailed guy started again, "I will deal with you bastards," beginning to move forward as he did, only to freeze, "What is this?! My body can't…"

"Nice, Shikamaru!" Naruto's loud nature kicked in and he loudly complimented the success of the plan, my shadow stretching out to capture each of our opponents and holding them all in position, "Kage Mane no Jutsu has succeeded!"

I smirked as I continued on as if Naruto had not interrupted me, "But there are also people with this kind of ability. Thank you very much for falling into our trap."

The silver-haired guy spoke in a teasing voice, "This could be bad. However… I have _this_ kind of ability."

The moment I heard the sound of shuriken flying through the air was barely enough for me to dodge them, one of them still managed to cut my arm; the momentary pain and surprise enough to disrupt my jutsu.

Even as my shadow was still receding, the fat one began to speak and slap his palms onto the ground, "Doton Keikkai – Doroudoumu (Earth Barrier – Clay Prison)"

The ground cracked and buckled in a wave towards us, encircling and containing us in a dome of earth before we could even react!

My eyes began to slowly adjust to the near pitch blackness in the earthen prison, "Damnit…"

"This is-"

"We're in that big guy's prison." I finished.

There were several moments of silence as we collectively assessed our situation, soon we were all examining the walls, Naruto in particular seemed exceptionally frustrated by our current predicament.

"Hey! Let me out! Damnit!" he was shouting as he pounded upon the earthen walls.

Neji walked up beside Jimi and placed his hand on the wall, "From what I see these are just normal walls made of dirt."

As I looked at the walls I highly doubted that, "It's their technique, there must be a trick behind it…"

"There is… I can feel it… I just can't put my finger on it…" Jimi had spoken up from his place beside the wall, his left palm pressed against the earthen barrier, "Either way, we have to break out."

The group looked at him and I spoke my mind again, "It's dangerous to move carelessly but you're right, sitting around and doing nothing is even more dangerous."

Jimi hadn't turned but as I finished my sentence he reared his right hand back into a fist; Naruto and Neji brought their arms up in front of their faces as Jimi's fist flew towards the dirt wall. I had a moment to wonder why the two of them had done that before Jimi's fist connected, showering us in dust, dirt, and rocks as if an explosion had gone off.

As both the dust and my mild surprise dissipated, Jimi wrenched his fist from the impact crater the considerable blow had left; a crater that was shrinking.

'_The wall is regenerating…'_

Jimi limply shook his hand and idly stared at the wall, "Well… that didn't work…"

Naruto promptly panicked, "What do we do?!"

"Looks like it isn't a normal dirt wall after all…" Neji murmured, thank you captain obvious… Several tense moments passed before Neji activated his Byuukagen, "This is…!"

We looked at him, "What?" he was holding his hands in front of him and staring at them with his Byuukagen activated.

"This is bad… our chakra is slowly being sucked away."

The surprise showed on everyone faces, except for Jimi's, who simply scowled, "Damn… that's what I felt…"

Naruto promptly turned with that over-excited face of his and shouted, "Damnit! Quit fooling around and get us out of here!" waving his arms and fists around excitedly.

Only minutes later most of us were kneeling or sitting on the ground, Jimi being the exception once more, still moving around the edges of our prison and tapping at the walls at regular intervals.

Naruto spoke up once more, this time considerably softer than before, "What's this? I feel like my strength is being drained away…"

Neji reactivated his Byuukagen and spoke, "This isn't looking good Shikamaru…"

I 'tched' as my mind continued working furiously, _'I never expected to be caught before we could assess the enemies abilities… I was careless. And also, inside here…' _my eyes glanced back and forth at the walls and my companions in the darkness.

Jimi turned to look at me, "Shikamaru, I'm going to give this another try before any more strength is sapped from us."

We looked as Jimi clapped his hands together, a small breath escaping him as he murmered, "Toge Kobushi (Thorn Fist)" He thrust his arms out from his sides, inch long thorns erupting along the backs of his fists and along his knuckles.

He reared back once more, pounding his fists into the wall with repeated blows before planting a fist into the wall and running around the circumference of the dome 90 degrees, creating a track in the wall before pounding into his new position. He repeated this until he returned to where he had started this little attack, leaving four craters in the wall with connecting tracks. He stopped at this, looking around and breathing a bit harder, "Damn… still regerating…"

I looked around at craters in the walls, my analytical mind working as quickly as it could. I finished bandaging the wound from the shuriken on my arm, the last bits of the plan coming together in my mind.

"Hey! Listen!" I shouted loudly, I really hoped this worked, "I want to speak with your leader! We will not pursue Sasuke! So let us out of here!"

"…?" I could feel the query in my squads mind, Naruto voicing it, "Shikamaru, what are you saying?"

The fat guy outside chuckled some before speaking, "You guys want your lives huh? Interesting. But that means you are traitors. There's no way that I'll let you out."

I kept going, "Then just one will be fine. Just let me out." The tension in the prison spontaneously increased, "This fight… is too troublesome."

"Shikamaru!" Jimi shouted from behind me, his voice deep and echoing in the chamber.

"Shut up Jimi." I said plainly, "You're too noisy."

Our jailor laughed from outside our prison, "Group conflict eh? Looks like you are the leader but want to save your own life. When you are trapped and in trouble your true personality appears." I glanced back and forth at the walls surrounding us as he spoke, "A moron like you doesn't deserve to live. You're just a loser."

"You are giving up chasing Sasuke and planning on giving up the lives of your friends. Is that what a chunnin of Konoha is?" the guy paused for a moment before speaking once more, "People like you should die. I'm not going to let you out."

'_Pretty damn moral for a Sound nin isn't he?' _My musings were interrupted by Naruto, "Shikamaru! I believed in you and you let me down! Get out!"

"We can't get out. That's the whole problem dumb-ass," Jimi said in his normal soft tone beside Naruto.

"What do you mean dumb-aMPH?!?!" I had a feeling that Jimi had clamped a hand over Naruto's mouth because the next sound I heard was a soft 'Shhhhh.'

I knelt into my usual thinking position, clearing my mind of stray thoughts before I let my entire mind begin to work on the best possible way out of here. I could idly hear Chouji begin to eat, a part of my mind detached from my usual thinking processes knew that he was following my general thinking.

I could vaguely hear Naruto arguing with everyone else for a moment but soon my mind was made up, I knew the plan.

My eyes opened and I knew there was a confident smirk upon my features as I turned to the first part of the plan, "Neji, I'm sorry, but with the last of your chakra please check the wall behind you and Chouji."

"Got it."

Naruto began to speak, "Shikamaru, shut up!"

"Naruto. How about you?" Jimi had spoken in my defense, surprising but I was internally grateful, "He's got a plan and I think I know what it is."

I nodded in thanks to Jimi but quickly hardened my features once more, "Jimi, can you hit the wall between Chouji and Neji?"

He nodded and turned, moving to the wall and raising his thorn covered fist once more, slamming it into the dirt powerfully several times in scattered places within his reach, leaving sizeable craters.

The big guy chuckled and spoke yet again, "No matter how much of a mess you make, it's pointless."

Jimi stopped and took several steps back, breathing harder than before as Neji scanned the wall with his Byuukagen, "I see. Over there."

Good, he knew what I was going for, "Neji, mark that spot with a kunai." I turned to my longtime friend, "Chouji, are you ready?"

My chubby friend grinned, "Ready when you are!"

"Alright, shall we do this?"

Naruto, being his usual dense self asked, "Hey! What's going on?"

Neji spoke, "As I said before, this barrier is filled with regenerative chakra. But, Shikamaru thought that within the wall, there might be some points where the chakra is thinner."

"Why? Why would he know that?"

"Try to remember earlier on," Neji had pulled out a kunai as he spoke, "When Jimi attacked the surface, he noticed that there were some places that regenerated faster than others," Naruto blinked some as he absorbed this information while Neji threw the kunai into the center of one of the few remaining craters.

Jimi picked up where Neji had left off, "Thus, the slower the regeneration the thinner the chakra. And by conversing with the enemy Shikamaru was able to locate the enemy precisely. He did this to get an idea where the thinnest chakra would be, since it makes since that it would be at the point farthest from the source of the jutsu." Jimi looked at me, "That's the gist of it isn't it?"

I just smirked at this.

I looked to Chouji, "It's up to you Chouji!"

"Alright!" my chubby friend slapped his hands together into a seal that was quite familiar to me, followed by a familiar jutsu, "Baika no Jutsu! (Multi-size Technique)" He became the large ball of flesh that would get us out of here, his limbs pulling into his main body mass as he enthusiastically shouted, "Alright! Let's go!"

The spinning, human cannonball slammed into the wall with tremendous force, dirt and gravel being kicked up as he spun against the earthen barrier.

In mere moments Chouji had broken through, rolling free of our 'clay prison' and into fresh air, the rest of the squad following after him into the fresh air.

The large clay dome collapsed before us, revealing the large guy that had captured us, I spoke to my friend with a sizeable grin, "Chouji, you are the best after all!"

My friend grinned back at me.

The large Sound nin spoke up with an obviously rhetorical question, "You managed to escape my barrier technique?"

I spoke to my squad, "The only guy left is him. It seems his comrades have already left."

"Yeah." Neji's activated Byuukagen meant is confirmation was valid, "It seems they are no longer near us."

"Tch… and just when I thought we had caught up to them."

The fat guy in front of us began clapping with an amused expression on his face, "Everybody, good work. You've all done your best… for a bunch of losers."

This immediately elicited a loud response from Naruto, "What?!" The blonde haired boy began to rush forward at the fat man, only to be lifted off of the ground by the scruff of his neck by Jimi.

"Naruto, _all_ of us fighting with him here is reckless _and_ pointless." Jimi was staring in the direction of the large man, "Even with five on one we won't be able to beat him quickly in our current condition… he seems to be stamina focused… and the longer we spend here kicking his ass the closer Sasuke gets to the border and beyond our reach." Jimi dropped Naruto back to the ground.

The fat man slammed his hands together into a seal as he began to speak, "Annoying flies, you are all merely my prey… though you all wouldn't be more than a small snack for me," he slammed a palm into the ground, causing the ground to buckle and shake.

Jimi leapt in front of the group, slamming his hands into a dragon seal; I could see the grass beneath him suddenly burst into life, spreading into a dense patch at our feet. As the ground outside of the patch shook and exploded we were in a small safe haven.

Jimi's head snapped up, "Shit! Behind us!"

We turned almost as one to see the fat man lifting an enormous piece of earth! It was at least twice the size of my house!

"Doton – Doryu Dango! (Earth Release – Mud Cannonball)"

"Impossible!" I almost agreed with Naruto on this one.

The man heaved and the massive ball of earth and rock and we obviously didn't just stand there! We started to run, but it hadn't been necessary; and with a cry of "Nikudan Sensha! (Meat Tank)" Chouji's rolling form destroyed the massive ball.

I could see Chouji roll on through the flying debris straight into the Sound nin! Only to grind to a halt.

Another cry, this time of "Shoushitsu! (Knee Strike)" came from the enemy nin, and Chouji was knocked into the air.

As my friend came down I watched in fear as another announcement came from the enemy, "Tokken! (Tackle Charge)" blasting Chouji away from him.

'_Shit!' _I moved quickly, catching the shrinking nin in my arms and halting his movement.

I saw the rest of my squad start to move, "Everyone wait!"

"We need to split up from here! We have no time!" I set my friend down on the ground slowly, "At this rate we won't be able to catch up with Sasuke! Neji, you'll act as co-leader, take Chouji and Jimi with you to chase after Sasuke," my hands moved up into the only seal I ever used, "I'll take care of this guy with Naruto!"

The Sound nin began to speak once more, "Are you planning on using the shadow bind again? Such a useless move, one glance and I know how to deal with it. You were squad leader huh… You really think you can defeat me when you split up? Must be tedious to work under such a useless leader, eh underlings?"

"Well, I'd kill any trash who'd work under such a shadow loving sucker… even before they felt bored."

Naruto began to shout, "Damnit, stop babbling like a fool! I'll-!"

"HE'S MINE!"

We all turned to see Chouji standing with an intense look upon his face, "I'll take care of him!"

It took me several moments to even speak, "Chouji…"

My friend reached into his back pocket and pulled forth a small tied sack, "Shikamaru, give everyone else these solider pills."

"Chouji! You've got to be kidding?!"

"You think so? I've still got the secret weapon for myself." The look on my friends face could only be described as serene at that moment.

'_THOSE?!' _"But that's-!"

"Shikamaru! Take everyone else and go!"

"… Chouji…"

Naruto spoke up for me, "What are you saying?! He's not someone you can take on by yourself!"

Chouji spoke calmly, "What did we come here to do? If we lose track of Sasuke we'll only become what that guy has said… Just a foolish leader and a bunch of trash."

I opened the bag, "Everyone eat this, it's a gift from Chouji."

The rest of the squad gathered around me and the four of us took a couple pills each in order of exhaustion, Jimi only taking one and me taking several.

As we began to move away from the two, Chouji still standing there facing his larger opponent, I spoke to him, "Chouji, you better catch up to us later."

He didn't turn, "Alright."

"Everyone! Let's move!" the four of us took off into the trees.

I could hear the fat man yelling, "Hah! I'll make quick work of you and them too!"

We could all hear the sound of the two titans clashing and we glanced back to see Chouji holding the Sound Nin back; he shouted to us, "Everyone! GO!"

It was soon after that when we were soon leaping away from the battle through the trees that Neji spoke up, "Shikamaru, I overheard those conversations between you and Chouji… He seems to be carrying a trump card… **but**… does he really have a chance?"

"He brought with him green, yellow, and red pills on this mission. They're top secret pills of the Akimichi clan, and they give you an enormous power boost when you use them."

"So that's why he was so sure of himself!!"

'_Yeah it is… it's true those pills contain enormous power… but… they carry tremendous side effects as well… Chouji, finish it quickly!'_

Soon we had Jimi leading the group through the forest towards our intended target once more; but I could barely keep my friend off of my mind, _'Chouji… finish the battle with the green pill… don't ever use the red one.'_

Jimi's voice brought me out of my reverie, "Shikamaru…"

"Yeah?"

"… is that pill going to be enough? I've seen two of the earth techniques he's used before… they require large amounts of chakra and strength in the first place and… he put so much power behind them…"

I couldn't speak for a moment, I didn't want to.

Neji spoke up again, "Well, if we analyze the situation… we have no accurate estimate of the big guy's full strength… and the possibility of Chouji defeating him is maybe slim to none, but… That's the real battle."

Now I spoke, "Yeah… this mission wasn't a game from the beginning. Our lives are at stake. There was even a worst case scenario where we had to act separately on our own. Even now we must be prepared for "One man one kill" or else we won't get to Sasuke in time."

I closed my eyes for a moment as we 'flew' through the trees before speaking again, "Chouji is a good guy… but he has no confidence in himself. He thinks that he's the weakest one of us all."

"… he just _might_ be the weakest of the five of us… but that doesn't make _him _weak," Jimi looked over his shoulder at not just me but the entire squad.

I smiled, "No… more than me or Neji or anyone here… Chouji is the strongest."

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 10** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) HIYAS PEOPLES!!! I apologize for the delay in this chapter but I had to get two wisdom teeth removed followed by my birthday party preparations and the birthday part itself. Still, here it is folks! This is taking WAY longer than I expected to get through this BUT I can't make them any longer without losing my authors integrity as far as I'm concerned.

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off

**P.S. The offer still stands for original characters. The offer will expire when Jimi begins his individual fight. You can submit any original characters for the Chunnin matches to either Jacobthecat on Gaiaonline or **


	11. Chapter 11

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 11**

////////////////////////////// **Shikamaru's PoV** //////////////////////////////

We had taken a quick pit-stop, my team and I, I took a moment to slash an arrow into a tree trunk; "He made a promise with us…" the memory of what my best friend had said to me flashed through my mind, "He will defeat the enemy and catch up with us."

"Yeah!" Naruto's statement sounded almost as confident as mine had.

"Might take him a while though…" I looked at Jimi who promptly grinned, "That guy's a lot of ass to kick…"

Neji simply smirked.

Moments later we were sailing through the tree's once more, "Alright everyone! Let's get Sasuke back before Chouji catches up!"

"Hai!"

////////////////////////////// **Naruto's PoV** //////////////////////////////

We hadn't been jumping through the tree's long when Shikamaru glanced back.

Not _at _me, but more like _through _me, "What is it?"

He was silent for a few moments before he looked back ahead and replied a few seconds after that, "Nothing…"

We spent the next few minutes in silence as we ran through the trees, still following Jimi's lead if only because no one else could track as well as him and we needed Neji as rear guard for good reason too since his Byuukagen is literally like a pair of eyes in the back of his head, I should know, it was almost impossible to surprise him!

Jimi broke the silence with one of those quiet sentences of his, " We're getting close… be ready…"

I jumped for glee inside! We were finally catching up to Sasuke again!

"… how odd. There hasn't been a single trap so far… Shikamaru… what do you think?" Neji had spoken up from the rear of the line.

I could hear the sneer in Shikamaru's voice when he replied, "We're just being under-estimated. They're thinking that the big guy is the only one who would follow them. No one would set traps for their comrades."

I couldn't help the shout that escaped me, it just made me so mad! "DAMN THEM FOR UNDERESTIMATING US!"

Neji though remained calm it seemed, _'Man I hate it when he does that…'_ "That must be an accurate analysis… certainly we are being totally under-estimated… but… this also gives us a chance."

"Yeah… let's get them while they are vulnerable…" Shikamaru was silent for moment, "Okay… here's the plan," we all looked at him to listen, "I'm going to go in using a henge (Transformation Jutsu) to disguise myself as the fat guy-"

////////////////////////////// **Third Person PoV** //////////////////////////////

The remaining three sound nin and their cargo ran through the tree branches, completely oblivious to the recent death of their comrade; and as if to emphasize such, Sakon spoke these words moments after we join them, "Jirobou… he's late."

"… nah… he's already here…" Kidoumaru said and looking over his shoulder at the large form now following them.

Sakon turned and snapped out, "What took you so long?"

"Sorry… it took a while suck to up all the chakra from those pieces of trash."

Tayuya's harsh voice pierced the air, "You fatty, don't be so slow! Hurry up and carry the coffin; that's your job you inferior dickhead!"

"Yeah…"

The air suddenly got thicker as the expected response never came, "Hey, Jirobou… you're so obedient today…" Kidoumaru said slowly as he looked back at his 'comrade'.

"…what?"

Kidoumaru turned in midair, "I'm saying you can't carry this coffin… since you're not Jirobou!"

At this 'Jirobou' cursed aloud and drew a kunai even as Kidoumaru tossed the coffin back to his comrades, "Let me handle it this time! Sakon and Tayuya, you guys go ahead!"

The female of the sound nin caught the object and took off with her companion as Kidoumaru and 'Jirobou' clashed.

The first blow was blocked and Kidoumaru grinned as 'Jirobou' became Shikamaru, "Jirobou always warns Tayuya about her swearing."

"I see."

In one moment Kidoumaru's cheeks bulged, then he spit out a mass at Shikamaru, "Ninpou Kumo Shibari! (Ninja Art Spider Chain)" the mass knocked Shikamaru back into a tree trunk and it spread out into a massive spider web to pin him there.

Six near silent figures leapt into the air above him and Kidoumaru stepped off of the branch, turning as he did with a shout of, "Don't underestimate me!"

Quickly gathering more of the goop from his mouth in his six hands he sprayed it forth into a massive web, "Ninpou Kumo Soukai! (Ninja Art Spider Web Opening)" it anchored itself onto the surrounding trees and soon Naruto and all of his shadow clones as they fell into the web.

There was hardly more than a rustle of cloth as Jimi launched himself from a branch below into the planned opening, based on the assumption that anyone would have a nigh impossible task of avoiding an attack in the air; his two thorn-blades crossed as he approached the many armed sound nin.

Kidoumaru spun the moment Jimi began sweeping the pair of blades, he moved quickly in midair completely out of Jimi's path.

Jimi tumbled and flipped in the air, speaking calmly as he did, "That won't work a second time," righting himself just as he landed on a branch; his sentence cut off, his face tensing but never leaving Kidoumaru's direction.

"Ah, you noticed," the sound nin grinned, it wasn't often that someone would notice their feet landing in sticky thread before it was too late.

"This won't work for long, as strong as this shit might be it can't hold me."

Kidoumaru sneered from where he hanged "Hmph, loser… keep on whining." Then something changed, Jimi shifted just a little, the corner of his mouth quirked up, the tension left his face and body. It wasn't much.

But it was enough.

Kidoumaru snapped his own threads and swung away from his position moments before Neji would have hit him with a chakra infused palm.

As he moved the many armed nin spun in the air, gathering the goop in his hands for a fraction of a second before spraying it at Neji; the same amount of web he had used on six Naruto's he used on just Neji.

"I'm gonna cocoon you here," the words were spoken with a movement of his many hands, the sticky threads soon encompassing Neji entirely.

One of the Naruto's with a free hand pulled a kunai from his side pouch and strained to cut the web with.

And strained some more.

"Damnit damnit DAMNIT! What is wrong with this web! I can't cut it!"

Kidoumaru slid upside-down some more support threads he had anchored and answered the rhetorical question, "My web is unbreakable; it can even support the weight of two elephants."

The many armed nin grinned to himself as he looked down at the many orange clothed ninja stuck upon his web, "Heh… isn't it interesting… shadow clones."

He breathed in, cheeks bulging, then began chewing something as he settled down on a nearby branch overlooking the net that held the many Naruto's; then he reached into his mouth with all six of his arms, grabbing something and pulling out strands of golden goop with hooked ends, "Ninpou Kumonenkin! (Golden Spider Spikes)"

As he bit off the ends of the strands in his mouth Shikamaru mumbled to himself, "What's he going to do?"

Each of the golden strands of goop began to harden into short, golden, spikey hooked canes, the many armed nin pointing one of the weapons at the Naruto's, "Hehe… you're my first prey so I'll make it entertaining. Let's play the "Guess the real body" game."

"First one will be the one on the end!" and with a flick of his wrist he sent one of the canes spinning straight into said Naruto.

There was an instant where it seemed as if it was the real Naruto before it burst into smoke.

"Heh… it was a clone eh, well then…" Kidoumaru raised another of his weapons above his head, "The next one is this one!" the cane cut through the air and the Naruto screamed in pain before it exploded in a burst of smoke.

"Hehe… what a lucky guy. Next I'm going to try two at once! It's a fifty-fifty chance!" with that he flung two more of the weapons through the air and into two more Naruto's, both of which once more burst into smoke.

Kidoumaru burst out laughing, "He is soooo lucky! But this time it's going to be one of them!" he flung another cane into one of the two remaining orange clad ninja stuck in his web, there was a scream of pain followed by a burst of smoke.

Kidoumaru was silent for a moment before he spoke softer this time, mostly to himself, "Damnit… he made it to the end after all… Well… I guess as a game it was pretty fun to put it off till the end… but the game's going to end here."

Naruto glared up at the sound nin as he flung his final cane straight at him, "And then there was one."

The cane slammed into the helpless Naruto's torso with a thunk and Naruto jerked from his captive place on the web.

Then promptly burst into smoke.

Kidoumaru blinked for a moment, his mind catching up to what he had just seen as the real Naruto rose out of the trees behind him.

The many armed nin sensed the presence behind him and spun around to block a punch from Naruto, letting himself be pushed from the branch as he used his special wires to right himself in the air and land on all six palms and two feet on a lower branch.

'_I see… he only had his clones come out and hid himself all this time looking for a chance to attack. A small pawn like him thinking that far ahead in this situation… nice try…' _he continued his mental tangent aloud, "But…" Naruto tensed as he tugged his arm against the wire wrapped around it, "-when you're out of ideas you die!"

Kidoumaru pulled upon the wire in his hand, tugging Naruto down off of the branch.

Only to have the wire holding him be cut by a chop from a leaping Neji.

As the sound nin tried to absorb the thought that his 'unbreakable thread' had been cut Neji grabbed the momentum-less Naruto as they crossed paths in the air and set him down by Jimi and Shikamaru who had already been released, "Naruto, thank you for buying me some time."

"You… how did you!?!" the many armed nin glared at the back of Neji, he did not call his web unbreakable lightly and now the piece of shit boy had cut it with his bare hands!

Neji spoke without turning, "Things made from chakra will be destroyed by putting chakra into it. It is meaningless against my Jyuuken."

He now spoke to his comrades, "This guy's jutsu… it seems like only I can handle it." Neji's looked over his shoulder, the viens around his eyes bulging to feed chakra and blood to his needy and powerful bloodline-limit, "Go… I'll take care of him."

Jimi stood from a crouch, pulling his hand from the branch beneath them, "He's stronger than fatass… he thinks more…"

Shikamaru's face tensed as he digested this information, hesitating to leave another of his squad alone against a powerful opponent.

Neji spoke, "In order to bring Sasuke back we might have to fight in one on one combat, that was the theory correct," it was more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah… that's right."

"Furthermore, if we stop here we won't be able to catch up with Sasuke. Chouji is still not back yet either. We are here because it is our mission to bring back Sasuke… but it is not only that. As ninja we are chasing after and protecting Konoha's ideals. Sasuke is heading to Orochimaru, we cannot let someone from our village go to him. We cannot."

Naruto looked over at the taller shinobi beside him, Neji looking back at him, "Naruto…"

Neji closed his eyes momentarily with a smile, "… you have better eyes than me," his usually somber voice became even more serious, "Sasuke is now within the darkness."

"Hurry and go. I will catch up later."

Shikamaru sighed, "Okay, we're going."

As the three Konoha ninja moved to leave, Jimi stopped and looked over his shoulder at Neji, "… give'm hell."

Neji nodded as his comrades leapt off into the forest, all sparing a glance backward.

Kidoumaru however had a different idea; he pulled some of the sticky beginnings of his web from his mouth he tossed it, forming a pseudo-cone of web with three leading hardened spikes.

The sticky thread encompassed Neji as it passed him, entangling him as the spikes unerringly sought the retreating shinobi.

A pair of chakra infused palms soon derailed the sound nin's plan; Neji's few hand swipes completely severing the web.

Naruto smiled, "Neji…"

Shikamaru grinned, "As to be expected."

////////////////////////////// **Naruto's PoV** //////////////////////////////

We had been leaping through the trees for almost half an hour and the sun was starting to set; Jimi was pushing himself off of branches with his hands and feet now in order to gain more contact with the plants from which he derived his tracking ability, "We're getting close."

Shikamaru spoke up next, "There are only two enemies left and there are three of us. It's three versus two. If everything goes well we might be able to finish this in one round."

He was right! And with Shikamaru's smarts, my amazing fighting ability and Jimi as backup there was no way we could lose! "Ha ha! Alright! Let's do it!"

"We'll have to be careful…" both Shikamaru and me looked at Jimi in the lead, "They seem to have a pecking order based upon their strength, having the menial task of carrying Sasuke pushed off to the _weaker_ members…" he turned to look over his shoulder at us, "I think we're headed into the strongest two."

I grinned, "Hey hey! I can just use Kage Bunshin and everything will be okay!"

Shikamaru spoke, "That actually sounds promising. But the most important part is that everything is done according to my plan. Got it?"

"Y-yeah…" I kept forgetting that he was in charge…

Shikamaru's next words were spoken with a little less force that the last ones, "For the sake of all that is holy, we have to reach them before sunset."

"I know. I've got their heading. Make sure to keep up." Jimi grinned for just a moment before pushing off harder from the next branch, speeding up as he moved through the trees.

It was several minutes later the last bit of light faded, the sun had set and we hadn't caught up with them yet.

Jimi spoke, he didn't sound happy with himself, "Sorry, I know I'm slowing the group down."

"No, it's alright. We'll just keep the same distance between us and continue pursuing them."

'_Wha-?"_ "What are you talking about?"

"That means we will avoid any sort of fighting before the sun rises."

"Quit fooling around!" I couldn't accept that! "How can you be so relaxed about it?! If we're going to attack why don't we use the cover of night!?"

"For us, the only advantageous time fighting in the darkness would be the moment of attack. Within that short time frame grabbing Sasuke and escaping to a safe place would be nearly impossible… if we didn't get Sasuke within that time they would just increase their defense of the barrel… that means we won't be able to do anything in the dark… and since they wouldn't have to waste any energy doing anything, they would have the upper hand instead. If we had Neji's Byuukagen things would be different."

Okay, that made some sense; I didn't have to like it though, "Okay Shikamaru! You're the leader!"

////////////////////////////// **Sunrise; Jimi's PoV** //////////////////////////////

We were closing in on the two _'Three?'_ sound nin. We had been keeping our position through the night and Shikamaru had run the plan by us. We had just now caught up with them and as according to plan, Naruto had summoned two shadow clones and changed them into Shikamaru and I to make it seem as if the three of us were facing the sound nin ourselves.

I tuned out the verbal exchange between them and let my eyes follow them; I hadn't mentioned my wounds to Shikamaru for a reason, the skin, bone, and muscle had knitted together on my arm well enough and I could ignore the hole in my chest as long as nothing reopened it.

The guy with white hair and what seemed to be two heads charged at Naruto and the transformed clones; I noted that he had a high speed multi-punch which stalled both imitations that had leapt at him; Naruto had made another clone to perform some chakra molding.

Unfortunately whatever Naruto had planned was not about to come to fruition as the white haired one caught both of Naruto's hands; that would be my cue.

I explosively poured chakra into the backs of my wrists, getting the desired result: the pair of thorn-blades blasting free still attached to trailing vines coming from my skin.

I stopped feeding chakra into the growing vines; the vines stopped going but the thorns didn't, so I tagged along, corkscrewing through the air and trailing a pair of steel-hard thorns.

I plowed straight through the remaining Naruto on the branch and ignored the burst of smoke.

White-hair ducked and I didn't hit him; I didn't expect to though, I kept going straight for the female sound nin and Sasuke's 'coffin'.

Cue Shikamaru.

And there it was, I could see his shadow reach across the branch and latch onto the woman's, immobilizing her, I could hear the other guy shouting something and leaping after me; no matter.

I twisted in the air, cutting myself off from the vines still attached to my arms, breaking myself from the momentum to give me time to grab the barrel and with a flip tossed it to the _real_ Naruto who promptly took it and started to leap off.

Shikamaru and I soon followed after him, Shikamaru moving the woman so she and the guy collided and buying us some time.

Unfortunately it wasn't as much as we had hoped for; the white haired guy soon caught up.

I came to a decision, "Shikamaru! Go!" I turned around as I landed on a branch, using the momentum of my turn to fling a thorn kunai from my wrist, feeling it burst from my skin, the special chakra charge attached to it letting _it_ attach to one of the exploding tags inside my sleeve and igniting it even as it flew towards my opponent.

He dodged the blade, but the blast went off right behind him and was soon followed by another exploding thorn.

I was already growing another thorn from beneath my skin even though he had disappeared in the blast, my arm already swinging in a motion to throw another exploding thorn into the cloud of dust timed to go off just outside of it.

I expected him to survive.

I expected him to come flying out of that cloud, peppered with splinters and dust and generally pissed off.

What I didn't expect was for him to be so damn fast.

I saw him coming; I could follow his movement with my eyes as he burst from the cloud; hell, I could've probably counted all those black dots on his face had I been so inclined.

But though my mind could follow him, my body just couldn't respond in time, I was stuck with my arm flying through the motion, the thorn having already caught its tag and ignited it even as the sound nin's fist connected with my stomach what felt like three times.

I was forced to watch as with agonizing slowness the thorn snapped off from its base still buried in my skin from the sudden change in velocity and direction; had plenty of time to ponder the repercussions as the half formed blade tumbled through the air with a fast burning tag attached to it.

I came to the general conclusion that this was going to hurt like all hell.

The flash of white light blinded me temporarily; the sound nin hadn't had a chance to move more than an inch in the elapsed time between punch and explosion; we shared a fate as the concussion hit us both'_?'_ and knocked us both off the destroyed branch and in the direction of a sizeable cliff nearby.

Even blinded I could feel the forest receding quickly, I could barely feel the wind tugging at my clothes as I plummeted down the side of the chasm.

As this happened I came to three conclusions.

One; being a Shinobi just plain old sucked.

Two; Sasuke was a complete idiot for leaving and getting us all in this mess.

And three; this was_** really**_ going to hurt.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 11** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Okay, this delay has no excuse. It took me way too long to get this up… I have a number of reasons why but we won't go into that now… really I just want to apologize for the huge delay and the cliff-hanger (falling off-er?) but don't worry! The next chapter should only take a few days to put up if that! there's no need for a reference in the next chapter unlike this one so I don't have to keep going back and forth between Microsoft Word and my reference.

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	12. Chapter 12

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Non-Jutsu Translations :

Kiseichu – Parasite

Senpai – More experienced (Also can be used as suffix)

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 11**

**Last Time on Kisses from a Rose!**

Even blinded I could feel the forest receding quickly, I could barely feel the wind tugging at my clothes as I plummeted down the side of the chasm.

As this happened I came to three conclusions.

One; being a Shinobi just plain old sucked.

Two; Sasuke was a complete idiot for leaving and getting us all in this mess.

And three; this was_** really**_ going to hurt.

////////////////////////////// **Jimi's PoV** //////////////////////////////

I tumbled and rolled through the air, bouncing off the partially sloped walls of the chasm occasionally; I couldn't control my descent, my balance had been completely thrown off by the explosion and the sudden distance from the plants outside of me threw the one in me off completely.

Even though my eyesight was returning, I couldn't orient myself and without my Kiseichu to orient us for me, I was stuck in free fall in the chasm.

The next thing I was consciously aware of was flaring pain in my back and the cracking of several ribs; pebbles and bits of gravel flying into the air from beneath me, stone crumpling from my weight and velocity.

As I took my time to shake off the impact I could hear the Sound Nin landing a ways ahead of me.

I blinked furiously to regain my vision but didn't move an inch; I was unworried about him seeing my eyes due to my shades still stuck upon my nose but I wanted… no, needed him to think I was dead so I had time to at least get up. With his speed he could have a kunai in my skull before I was up good…

I was tough but not _that_ tough.

Fortunately I didn't even have to guess what his following "Hmph" meant; he practically told me.

"Trash like that acts all tough but can't even land properly. I can't believe they got the container away from us for any amount of time."

I moved the instant his footsteps started away, flipping forward from my reclining position _in_ the boulder I landed on my feet bringing my arms down, pouring chakra into the backs of my wrists I felt the thorns burst from the skin, I knew they caught another of the exploding tags hidden in my sleeves, I had instilled within them enough chakra to set the tags off two seconds after leaving my flowing sleeves.

In the end I just watched as two brown streaks flew from my sleeves only to miss the other Nin who had probably moved upon hearing me, but I had the satisfaction of watching him stumble as the blades exploded mere yards past him.

I didn't have the luxury to just sit by and relax though, I wasn't fast enough; I was moving almost as I flung the exploding thorns.

I had hoped they would get him, not expected them too.

My opponent spun with a look of momentary surprise on his face as I charged straight at him, my hands clenched into fists as I held my arms out.

His surprise faded quickly and he shifted stances into a considerably more solid stance, perfect for stopping a charging foes momentum and throwing them open for subsequent blows.

Too bad for him I wasn't getting that close.

I spun to a halt within two yards of him, my arm following the motion and flicking a thorn into the ground right between his feet.

His surprised eyes followed the brown blade into the ground and widened even further when he noticed the already mostly burned exploding tag attached to the blade.

The explosion forced him back, he was looking around furiously for me, his face scrunched up in anger; it definitely wasn't a good look for him.

Too bad he was looking in the wrong place, I wasn't above the ground.

I burst from the ground just beneath his direct line of sight, the vines already free of the skin on my palms.

As I flipped over the startled Sound Nin I circled my arms around and around, entangling his arms and binding his wrists together.

I landed behind him, thorn blades bursting from the backs of my wrists, accompanied by droplets of my blood; I grabbed the vines in my palms and jerked the helpless Nin back towards my blades which I thrust towards him once he was coming back.

The blades never reached him.

A pair of hands had caught my clenched hands.

My eyes followed the hands up the arms to another torso sticking out of the back of the one Nin I thought I was fighting. What had appeared to be a lump of hair had actually been another head!

This only barely had time to register before the second head grinned and spoke, his voice only slightly different from his… twins _'?', _"Eh, Sakon… two on one just might be fun if he keeps fighting like this."

The other head chuckled, "Right Ukon."

I could barely do more than think a couple curses as the first twin pulled his body _into _the others; my vines rendered useless as they fell free, and then burst out of the chest of the second holding my arms to hit me in the chest with a powerful punch.

The blow sent me flying through the air; I was stopped when my back slammed into one of the stalagmite/boulders that dotted the ground.

I could feel the rock behind me crack as I slammed into it uncontrolled, my head jerking back; pain flared as my weakened ribs cracked even further.

I fell to my feet, pulling my head back down to see.

When I did I sorta wished that I hadn't.

My head had come down just in time to catch a glimpse of three fists blurring their way into my face.

My skull slammed back into the rock hard and my shades cracked.

I was vaguely aware of the Sound Nin 'tee hee'ing for a moment before pain exploded in my side and I felt myself tumbling and rolling across the ground.

I eventually righted myself and skidded to a halt, standing in a low crouch.

The guy was bragging about something that he and his brother could do, I ignored him.

I could feel blood dripping from my fingers to the dirt below, I realized that I had not had a chance to seal the holes in my hands and wrists after firing my thorns and vines; I ignored the pain.

The front of my undershirt was wet, blood was oozing out of the gaping hole in my chest and sternum, I ignored that too.

I had to think of something that would put my opponent(s) off balance again and put me on the offensive or I was dead.

Then it happened, Ukon, the internal brother grabbed Sakon's mouth to stifle his monologue; but when he looked at Sakon, Sakon looked back at him.

I slapped my hands into a ram seal and sunk straight into the stone beneath me.

They both looked back over where I had been and stopped whatever they had been planning, something or another about level two.

Two brothers looked around quickly, this time their eyes were flicking towards the ground beneath them as well.

Too bad they were still looking in the wrong place.

I soundlessly pulled from the cliff-face above them, only one of my thorn blades still intact.

Even though with two pair of eyes they were considerably harder to sneak up on, they still had a blind spot directly above them between the two heads.

I dropped straight towards it, rearing back my blade, ready to plunge it down into where I guessed they had a shared spinal column.

Then I heard it and I knew they had to as well; my flowing sleeves fluttered.

The conjoined twins leapt back several feet just before I reached them, my blade plunging uselessly into the dirt where they had been.

I jerked my head up only to get a face full of foot, three to be exact.

My weakened thorn blade, normally as hard as steel, snapped off in the ground as I was knocked flying again. My eyes snapped closed as the glass of my shades shattered.

I rolled across the ground until I skidded to a halt in a crouch once more; the broken glass fell from the frames of my shades as I stood and reached for them.

I gripped the broken frames and had to use a small burst of chakra to loosen them and get them off.

My eyes snapped open and I glared at my opponent across from me, speaking out in a low voice, "Those were my favorite shades you bastards."

The twins both jerked from surprise at the sight of my eyes, I was used to the reaction, it's not every day you see a person with greens instead of whites.

I knew what my eyes were like, what should have been white was a grass green, where there should have been an iris and pupil there was just a dark circle of forest green in each eye.

I might have been used to the reaction but I still found it funny that the two brothers who were conjoined like that would find my _eyes_ to be startling.

Wait till he saw the rest of me.

I came to a decision, my kimono tops' stealth impediment wasn't worth my two remaining exploding tags.

I reared back and tossed my shades at the twins, the frame becoming a spinning disc as it cut through the air.

Sakon, the more confident of the brothers moved to grab the shades, but unfortunately his more careful twin Ukon stopped him just in time to not loose a finger. The spinning shades still were able to give him a sizeable cut along the back of his hand though.

The brothers looked up in time to see me toss my kimono top aside and move to rip the wrappings from my forearms and wrists.

I grabbed a bundle of the cloth on one arm and ripped, tossing the bloodied bandages aside as I did the same for the other arm; I was treated to a look of pseudo-horror/disgust on the Sound Nins face.

I couldn't blame him really; my forearms were covered in vines that had burst from the constraints of my skin only to burrow back inside in another place, blood was dripping down the vines and my arms from using them in combat.

Now I spoke up again, "Now that that's out of the way… I have a question for you two… I just have to know…" I had their honest attention, good; I relaxed some and let my hands talk with me, "Since you two share a body, when you two do _it_ is it incest or masturbation?"

This had the desired effect of pissing them both off considerably, the black dots on their skin flared red and expanded, soon all of their skin was this boiling red, their bodies shifting and changing.

When the red faded their skin was a dark brownish red, their faces considerably more demonic, fangs and sharp teeth were visible between their lips; they actually looked like a two headed monster now with a head on each shoulder. Then I noticed that they each had one off-center horn.

Before they could even move I opened my mouth, then closed it, the opened it again, "You know… actually… nevermind… the horns make it _way_ too easy…"

Okay, now **that** got them mad.

They ran straight for me several times faster than before; as they moved I poured chakra into my right arm and could feel it being encased in a single, solid thorn.

I pulled my right arm; now terminating in a serrated cone, back, holding out my left as if to deflect what he threw at me.

I'm glad I didn't really plan on stopping them; they ducked under my still extending left hand and plowed a fist into my gut with extreme force. Pain rippled through my stomach and up my body, I could feel as much as see blood fly from my mouth.

I could hear them laugh as I slumped over the fist; they stopped pretty fast when my left hand grabbed the front of their shirt.

I jerked my head up and grinned at them as I plowed the serrated thorn up through their body, letting go with my left and tossing them over my shoulder even as I split them down the middle.

I poured some more chakra into the thorn that encompassed my arm; molding the steel hard wood as it grew into a smooth cone that started at my elbow and extended twice the length of my forearm.

And I watched as organs and flesh poured from the torn sides of the brothers. I had been worried about this. I had split them in two but they were two in one.

Sakon, the brother with the left horn, had regrown his right side while Ukon, the brother with the right horn, had done the opposite. The side they had regrown was black, scaly, and demonic.

Ukon spoke, "Sakon… we're not holding back anymore are we."

"No… we're not Ukon…"

"Good! You two shouldn't hold back against your senpai…" I grinned as they glared at me.

But I grinned even wider when their faces showed surprise as I raised the massive thorn, pointing it between them and launching it from my arm.

The two of them dodged behind some rocks before the thorn was halfway to them, "That won't work!" I slapped my hands into a dragon seal and the thorn exploded into thousands of splinters, launching the harder than steel projectiles even faster at the Sound Nin.

The next thing I saw was a burst of smoke and a massive gate rushing up between the needles and where the sound Nin were hiding.

The cloud of needles slammed into the gate, but instead of piercing it like I expected them to it only put a dent into it. A considerable dent to be sure, but just a dent.

Then the summoned gate exploded into smoke and I realized I was generally screwed; I had been staring at the gate even as the twins had come charging at me.

I kicked my kimono top up off the ground as I leapt back, forming a seal.

The first brother got entirely around the cloth and kept coming for me; the second one was just getting to it as the two exploding tags still hidden in the sleeves ignited.

I unconsciously flinched as the blast went off, unaccustomed to bright flashes without my shades; but I still saw Sakon get knocked flying by the blast.

'_Wait!' _I looked around frantically, fully expecting a kunai in the back, _'Where's the other?!'_

Suddenly I heard a scream of pain from behind me.

I spun to see Ukon sliding away from me as if knocked back.

I leapt away from him and turned so both of the prone twins were in my view.

Sakon yelled to his brother even as he himself got up, "Ukon! What happened?!"

Ukon's voice was trembling and stuttering in pain, "H-He- he hurts!" he gasped wheezed, coughing as he stood up shakily, his twin running to his side. I watched as Ukon's 'Level 2' faded, leaving his skin clear and his body normal once more.

"What? What do you mean?"

I knew this was the perfect opportunity to attack, I knew that I should be moving, running, throwing kunai… anything! But I was just as curious if not more to know what had happened.

"His body… it's in such pain… I tried to fuse with him… but…" Ukon looked at me with what looked to be both fear and the slightest touch of disgust, "His body is in so much pain I could hardly break the jutsu…"

Sakon looked up at me, glaring as he pulled his brother close into a hug, Ukon slipping inside of his twin's body.

That's when I had an idea.

I didn't let it show on my face, but I had an idea.

As my body shifted I couldn't believe I hadn't done this before.

The two brothers as one once more charged at me again, Ukon having had a chance to recover from the shock that had been induced from what I assume was fusing with me. They were fully 'Level 2' once more with all the horns and ugly to go with it.

I threw a punch at them as they approached, unsurprised when they dodged it easily and placed several blows into my stomach.

I put a stop to that when I wrapped my arms around the two of them in a massive bear hug, pulling them tight against me and forming seals behind their back.

They struggled and cursed, trying to get away from me; they didn't know what I was doing, but they knew it wouldn't be good. I was actually stronger than they were and had no trouble holding them, they couldn't split themselves apart to get away, and to top it all off they couldn't fuse with me safely to get out.

I stopped making hand seals and grinned straight into their faces, "Just for the record… you two hardly stood a chance… because I'm Jimi Barakuchizuke, bitches, and this is my thorn armor."

I felt the thorns burst from my chest, ripping into their shared bodies.

I held them there as their struggles weakened, blood dripped from their mouths, their eyes glazed over and they slumped against me.

I could feel their blood dripping down my chest, when I let go they didn't fall off though; I had to take a hold of their shoulders and push them off of the thorns, they made a sickening squelching sound as I did.

I watched them drop to the ground with a thud and looked up.

It was a distance away, but I could still feel the forest above me resonate with the Kiseichu inside of me; and I could feel two familiar chakra signatures through them, moving away at high speeds.

Naruto and Sasuke.

My opponent was dead and Sasuke was hauling ass away from Konoha.

Call it instinct, call it the plant sensing the storm, but I knew that Naruto wouldn't win, I just _**knew**_ he would need help and I just happened to be available.

And with that, I leapt.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 12** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Bwuahahaha!!! I updated soon! Okay, I've forgotten to do this but thank you! Thank you to all those who have reviewed! Thank you to all my readers who put up with me! And sure as hell thank you to my two beta-readers! This would be a shitload worse without you two!

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off


	13. Chapter 13

Legend :

"Blah" – Speech

'_Blah' _– Thoughts

'_**Blah' **_– Kyuubi Speech

Non Jutsu Translations:

For those of you who don't know Kami means God.

Now on with the show!

**Chapter 13**

////////////////////////////// **Jimi's PoV** //////////////////////////////

I ran as quickly as I could through the dense trees, it had been several minutes since I had gotten out of that valley and gotten back on Naruto and Sasuke's trail. I had passed two fights in progress; I couldn't stop to help them while Sasuke was still heading away from the group. The mission came first, then the rest of the group.

I lost track of Naruto and Sasuke about a minute ago. My best guess was that they had gotten into a clearing without any vegetation…

And it scared me.

Because now… now I could feel waves of chakra clashing from where I last sensed them. Chakra… and killing intent…

But what was scaring me the most… was that each one of them was putting out more chakra than I could hope to at my best. What was going on!?

I was running as fast as I dared with the damage I had taken, I was tough, but not unstoppable. Even while pouring healing chakra into my wounds I was only able to staunch the bleeding and set the bones by growing my Kiseichu's roots around the fractures.

I still had enough chakra and endurance left for a fight… against say, an academy student. But I didn't dare waste any more chakra to heal myself… I would need as much I as I could spare judging by the power I could feel radiating from what I assumed to be Naruto and Sasuke clashing.

_'Kami-sama… I really hope that they knock each other out… I don't think I could do much in this fight even at full strength… let alone now…'_

A glance up as I hauled as much ass as I could told me it was going to rain soon.

I could feel the cleared area that the two of them had disappeared into approaching, and at this distance I could tell it was a valley of some kind, created by a waterfall.

Their chakras suddenly spiked and I stumbled, barely catching myself in time to keep running.

Oh no… please let me be there in time! I'm barely a minute away!

Just a little longer! Stall just a bit longer!

A shock-wave, not a spike in chakra, not some metaphorical thing sensed… an actual, god-damned shock-wave almost knocked me onto my ass!

The two chakras quickly faded as I stood stunned.

I just tried to figure out what had happened.

Then I came to my senses and ran as quickly as I could, hoping beyond hope that they hadn't killed each other.

The lip of the valley came into view moments later and I didn't slow, vaulting off the edge as I reached it; falling feet first into the rocky chasm.

I had plenty of time to see what was below me, even as rain started to fall with me.

Sasuke was standing up from kneeling over Naruto, a pair of holes in the back of his shirt; and Naruto just lay there, a hole in the right side of his chest.

_'Kami-sama… I'm too late…'_

I landed hard, the stone buckling beneath my feet and sending lances of pain up my already injured legs and back. (1)

I stood shakily, _'I had only known Naruto for a short while and he was already dead! Why did this have to hap-…?'_

_'Naruto was still breathing… barely… but he was alive. Thank Kami-sama…'_

It's then I noticed Sasuke looking at me with sad eyes, a look I knew too well for my liking… though on different faces.

We stayed like that for a long moment in time, then I spoke, "You can still come back."

He looked away from me, the rain pouring down on us now, and even across the ten plus meters that separated us I could read his emotions like a book. Regret, followed by simple sadness, a degree of guilt when his eyes landed on Naruto at his feet, then a touch of sadness again when he looked up at me, next musing, then determination.

He looked away again, "I know."

"I have to bring you back."

"I know."

"… why?" he knew what I was asking.

"… I need more power."

"That you can't get in Konoha? That you can't get wi-"

"For both of us."

I stopped, taking a full thirty seconds to process what he said, "What?"

"Seeking vengeance only brings more pain… you said so yourself… but justice must be done…" he looked back at me, "Two entire clans… two great clans… have been murdered by a man each. Justice must be done, vengeance must be sought. But as few people should be hurt by this as possible…"

I could feel the shock of what he was suggesting flash across my face, I had trouble really believing that he was willing to do that for my sister and me.

I lowered my eyes to the ground below me as I thought, and thought hard, feeling my rain soaked hair drooping in front of my face.

"Sasuke… I can't let you throw away everything that you have… not for revenge… not your own or even mine…" I met his gaze, resolve set in my emerald orbs as I took a step, "I won't let-"

I never saw him coming. Barely even heard it coming to tell the truth. Should've expected it though.

I first noticed the taste that sweet yet coppery taste in my mouth that I recognized as my own blood; then I noticed that Sasuke wasn't where he had been a moment before; then I noted that that damn chirping sound was going on; it was about a full second later that the pain actually registered.

A lot of it.

I almost keeled over as I coughed up blood, would've if Sasuke's arm wasn't still embedded in my stomach.

I shook from the pain. I could see and feel thick blood ooze out of my mouth as my stomach heaved. Somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear the chirping subside.

'_Kami… I think he took out a kidney.'_

I could vaguely feel his other hand on my shoulder through the haze of pain, but pain tore through me as he ripped his arm out of me.

'_Kami… he went all the way through… he even came out the back…'_

My world faded in and out… I was on the ground… blood was still leaking out of the hole in my stomach… _'Definitely hit a kidney… wouldn't be bleeding this much otherwise…'_

I forced myself up. Sasuke was gone. But Naruto was still here and wounded as well.

A spasm wracked my body as I got to my hands and knees and I coughed up a fresh stream of blood, the world swam before my eyes, but I made myself stay 'up', and I _made_ the world stop spinning.

'_It's hard to concentrate… I've never been hurt this bad…' _

But I had to. I focused as best I could, pulling chakra from the plant inside of me and shoving it into the wound. It was awkward, it was sloppy, but it worked, I could feel the bleeding slow to a stop.

It took me several minutes and a couple tries to get to my feet.

'_Sasu- No. Naruto. Focus. You can't go after Sasuke. Do what you can. Help Naruto.' _

I wobbled over to where Naruto lay, more collapsing the crouching once beside him. I pulled him onto my back as best I could, but before I could force myself up I saw something beside where he had lay.

Sasuke's slashed forehead protector.

We had failed to bring Sasuke back… all of us… but I knew that Naruto would at very least want this memento of his friend.

I picked up the piece of metal and cloth, stuffing it into Naruto's carrying pouch.

I stood on shaky legs, adjusting Naruto on my back, I wouldn't fail to get at least part of my team home.

I wouldn't.

////////////////////////////// **Several Minutes Later** //////////////////////////////

"Ow."

Damn… every time I leapt from one branch to another my entire torso flared in pain. I was going as fast as I dared in my condition. I had been going on like this with Naruto on my back for a while now, going on despite the rain and descending darkness.

I could no longer feel everyone else's chakra as I could before, I was worried.

Several new people flared into existence on my 'plant radar', headed my way.

'_Damnit! There's no way I can fight like this, I don't know if I could even run from a fight now…'_

As the people approached I let out a sigh of relief. I recognized one of them as a medic nin I had met in my stay at the hospital.

They soon came into view, easily keeping pace with me as I moved through the tree's in the direction they had come from.

"Jimi-san, are you okay?"

"Okay enough…" I slowed to a stop on a branch, gasping for air more than I should ever be, "But… I think someone needs to take him from me… I… I don't think I can make it all the way back with him on my back…"

One of them came and carefully pulled Naruto from my back, moving the blonde onto his own back.

The shinobi I knew hurried over when I began to hack up some more blood, only flecks this time mind you, but more blood, "Jimi-san-!"

That's when they noticed the hole in my stomach, didn't blame them, it was mostly covered by my shirt.

"We need to get you to the hospital now!" the man moved to pick me up, but I brushed him off. As much as I appreciated the thought, "Don't," I had to pause to swallow down some blood, "Don't bother… I'm too heavy to carry all the way back… and I can make it on my own… it just won't be pleasant…"

The medics face hardened, determination to tell the patient what was _actually_ best for them, "Sir, as much respect as I have for your ability to take damage, there is a hole where your kidney should be. You should be more than dead by now."

I smiled grimly at him, slightly dismayed that he swam in my vision, "I know… but cough… but I also know I weigh over three hundred pounds… even with all the missing pieces…"

That made him blink, but not much else, had to give him credit, "Sir, we _are _medical _ninja_, not some doctor in a backwater town, two of us should be able to carry you back."

I chuckled, as the world swam and lurched, "I… guess…" my world started to fade to black, "I don't have much of a choiiice…" I could feel myself keel over into him, and even though my eyes were open, all I could see was darkness.

I soon passed into unconsciousness.

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 13** //////////////////////////////

(1) This sorta resembles how Unit 01 in Evangelion landed after defeating the Angel that was the sea of driac or something like that.

A/N.) Damn… okay, I'm extremely sorry for the amount of time it took me to update this, but I just couldn't get any words to flow into my computer for far too long. Long story short, I was busy and I'm not as busy anymore. I'll be working on this story a whole lot more after this and hopefully updating soon. For those of you hoping for a longer chapter, I'm sorry, that's where this chapter ends.

Ah well, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off!

**P.S. I'm sorry about this, I only recently noticed that my computer is F.U.B.A.R. more than usual. I'm going to extend my deadline for the Original Characters because some people might not have gotten them to me by accident. The best way to contact me is through I'm Jacob(underscore)the(underscore)cat. If you don't want to do that, I can also be contacted at **


	14. Chapter 14

Legend :

. . . Oh what the hell!? If you've stayed with me this long you already know it!

On with the freakin show already!

**Chapter 14**

////////////////////////////// **Hinata's PoV** //////////////////////////////

The sound of my feet were loud to me even as I jogged into the crowded lobby of the hospital, slowing down to catch my breath.

My father had heard that Neji-nii-san and his team had returned, but he was still in a clan meeting and couldn't leave. So the moment he had a break he sent for me and was sending me to check up on Neji-nii-san.

I was halfway to the receptionists' desk to ask where he and the others were when Sakura came down the staircase in the lobby. She noticed me and walked over, "Did you hear?"

I nodded, "N-Naruto-kun and the others are back… I-I'm here to s-see how they're doing…"

She looked to the ground, her eyes sad, "They failed their mission."

I nodded, saddened as well by the thought, "I… I know…" I hadn't known Sasuke very well, but he was Naruto-kun's friend.

Sakura spoke again after a moment, "Everyone made it out alive though, Naruto was hurt pretty bad but he's okay now… Chouji, Neji, and Jimi though…"

I looked up at her worriedly, my mouth working silently as I tried to ask what had happened.

"The three of them were in critical condition when they got here… but thankfully they're all stable now," I let out a sigh of relief, "But none of them are allowed any visitors yet…" my shoulders drooped some. After a moment Sakura gave me a sly look, "Though Naruto _**is **_allowed visitors… and last I checked he's alone in his room now…"

I could feel my face heat up and I looked away, my fingers pressing together, immensely embarrassed, "T-thank you…"

She grinned at me for a moment before her face softened into a small smile, "I guess I'll see you later then."

I nodded, "H-hai."

As she left I instead went up to the receptionist, it took a few moments but I was able to get the medical reports on both Jimi-kun and Neji-nii-san for my father, _'And Naruto-kuns for myself…' _I thought with a blush.

I double checked with the nurse and only Naruto-kun and Shikamaru were available for visiting. Naruto-kun probably wanted to be alone for a while…

As I walked home I flipped through the files on my friends and cousin, biting my lip progressively harder as I read on.

Naruto-kun was in the best shape of the three, the Hokage had checked him up herself. Even though he had a number of bruises, scratches, and a number of cracked bones, the Hokage's report said that the biggest problem was chakra depletion.

Neji-nii-san was badly hurt but now stable; he had a number of puncture wounds in his body, having taken several kunai to his torso, as well as having a hole through his shoulder and several major arteries and veins. All Hyuuga had a more than rudimentary knowledge of the human body, both through personal observation with our Byuukagen and special training to better use our abilities. I knew how badly hurt Neji-nii-san had been, it was certainly amazing that anyone had been able to heal him.

I finally got to Jimi-kuns file, stowing Naruto-kun's and Neji-nii-san's underneath it, it was only moments after I opened it that I stumbled and almost dropped the folder. I blinked a few times and re-read the first page before flipping through it quickly.

Seven cracked ribs, four more hairline fractures, three more were outright broken, and several hairline fractures in his skull… There was still a several inch deep hole in his chest from where Sasuke had hit him with the chidori as well as a number of open holes in his skin from the usage of his bloodline; And to top it all off was severe chakra depletion… But what had really shocked me was that there was a considerable hole _through _him where his kidney should've been!

If you were able to hit a persons' kidney with even a senbon, let alone a kunai or in this case a chidori, it would kill the person! A blow to a persons' kidney is one of several kill shots on the human body, comparable to slitting a persons throat or stabbing them in both lungs…

I closed the folder and covered my mouth with a hand as I tried to suppress my worry, Tsunade-sama had specifically stated in her report that Jimi-kun would be fine, given enough time to recover… though right now he had a pair of I.V. drips in him and was hooked up to a respirator amongst other things. It really was a small miracle that he was alive…

I stood there for several moments before I realized that the sun was almost completely set…

'_Oh crap! Father wants to see these as soon as possible!!!'_

I immediately took off as fast as I could towards my home.

////////////////////////////// **Shelby's PoV** //////////////////////////////

It had been a day since the group had gotten back, and my brother had been put into intensive care.

Hinata-nii-chan had come back from the hospital with the hospitals files for Jimi and Neji. They were both in bad shape, but it looked like they would both be able to come home pretty soon… though Jimi wouldn't be available for missions for about two weeks… more if Tsunade-oba-chan had anything to say about it…

I smiled from where I sat at the thought, knowing full well that my brother would be out and about in two weeks, he would make himself do it… the baka…

A particularly loud 'Ow' brought my attention back to the present, and I looked up to see Kurenai-sempai wrapping the last of Kiba-kuns' burns.

When Hinata-nii-chan had gotten ready to leave for training today, she invited me to come along since I hadn't been assigned to a team yet. Of course I accepted; it would be fun seeing how I stacked up against them.

When Hinata-nii-chan and I arrived I was pleasantly surprised to find that both Shino and Kiba-kun were part of her team. It didn't take much to convince their sensei to let us spar and it started off with me versus Kiba-kun and Shino verses Hinata-nii-chan.

Now, even though Kiba-kun is pretty good at taijutsu… and sorta cute… he's not exactly the brightest crayon in the box. That Tsuga trick of his is pretty powerful… but when he tried to use it the second time I already had a trick up my sleeve. When he came at me I just substituted myself with an exploding clone, something I liked to call the 'Switch and Boom!' Poor Kiba-kun ran straight into the clone and got knocked onto his butt.

Hinata-nii-chan and Shino kept going as Kurenai-sempai fixed up Kiba-kun. When I went over to a tree to wait until she was finished, Akamaru had come over and sat in my lap; I had been petting the little pup since then.

I looked over to see Shino and Hinata-nii-chan coming over and I gave them a curious look to which Hinata-nii-chan responded, "I-it's almost noon… w-we thought we'd stop for lunch…"

I jumped up, still holding Akamaru in my arms. _'Lunch! I like the thought of that!'_

It took a bit to set up the little picnic which Hinata-nii-chan had brought most of the food for. It smelled really good and I was practically drooling by the time the food was actually passed around. As we munched away we found it to taste just as good as it smelled.

Hinata-nii-chan didn't really seem with us at the moment, her eyes distant as she ate her food. It took me a little bit to figure out why, but I figured it out easily enough.

She was worried about Naruto, Neji, and Jimi.

Well that wouldn't do, I'd have to try and fix this if I could, "Nii-chan?" When she looked up a moment later I continued, "They'll be okay, if I know my brother, which I do, he'll come back from this tougher than ever… and even though I don't know Naruto very well, I don't think a little thing like almost dying is going to stop him either…"

She stared at me for a moment before her face split into a small smile, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink, "T-thank you… I-I just wish there was some way for me to help them…"

Everyone there was quiet for a moment as we pondered it, then Kiba-kun spoke up, "Well… if there was some way we could help them find Sasuke, it would probably solve a lot of the problem."

We looked over to him and all agreed, "Yeah… that probably would be the best thing we could do… but I don't know what we can do now that Sasuke-teme is so far away…" I took a bite of the dango I had been munching on as I kept racking my brain for anything that could track Sasuke-teme over such a distance.

We were quiet for a moment before Shino spoke up, "There… actually might be a way… though, I'll have to check…"

We all looked at him curiously as he stood and looked over towards Kurenai-sempai, "May I be excused?"

She nodded, "Alright, Kiba," she looked over at him, "Why don't you go home as well, I wanted to have a girl talk with Hinata and Shelby." She gave him a small smile and, predictably, the three boys were of almost like a shot; the words 'girl talk' would do that to guys.

Once they were well out of earshot I looked over to Kurenai-sempai, "So what is it?"

"There's two **it**s really… we'll get to yours first," she turned to look at me fully, "The teams are going to have to be reorganized, now more so than before with Sasuke gone, and the Hokage wanted your opinion on where you should go."

I paused to think before speaking, "About just me or me and my brother as well?"

"Both of you."

"Okay… well… my brother works well on the majority of mission types solo, the only kind I know he's not good at would be spy missions due to our inability to hide our parasite, the same goes for me in that respect," I bit my thumb as I thought on it, "My brother is best when paired with one other person though. The two of us are a near unstoppable tag team, I'm a mid to long range Ninjutsu specialist while my brother is a mid range to close combat specialist. My attacks are big and flashy, but mostly meant to get my opponents attention so my brother can get in close to either finish them off or hold them still so I can."

I paused again as I kept thinking, "But he would also be good as a shield for someone… he's not one for large groups, but he can be the one in a group who plows ahead a little recklessly to set off traps and such…" I sighed, "The way I'm seeing it… my brother is more of someone you add to a team to round them out as needed rather than a permanent member…"

Kurenai sempai nodded some and waited patiently for me to continue as I mulled it over, I didn't like the silence so I started thinking out loud, "Um… I don't know where I'd go… I'm good at long range… I know I'm pretty fast… I'm also good at offense and know a couple defensive jutsus… but… I'm bad at genjutsu and not very good in close combat 'cause I'm not as tough or strong as my brother… nor do I have the stamina for much more than a couple quick strikes…"

Hinata-nii-san spoke up at this with a confused look on her face, "B-but you used several jounin level jutsus r-right after one another… those took a lot of chakra each… and you didn't seem tired afterwards…"

I scratched the back of my head and looked off to the side, feeling sorta like Naruto in doing it, "Well, the thing is that if I had used even two more of those jutsus I would have passed out… I just don't have the stamina for that stuff…"

"Oh…" she bowed her head some with her cheeks flushed a light pink.

"Well… I have some good news for you Shelby, I think I know where you'll get put already… but I'll have to check with the Hokage about it…" I looked over at Kurenai-sempai as she continued, now to Hinata-nii-san, "The Hokage requested that you help the medical staff take care of Neji and Jimi, at very least until they wake up and can tell them what's wrong."

Both of us blinked for a moment, and when I looked over at Hinata-nii-san I could see her cheeks were flushed a bright pink, "W-w-why do t-they need m-me?"

"They would like to be sure that Neji's internal injuries are healed correctly, but mostly they need someone with they Byuukagen to help guide them in healing Jimi. His physiology is so unusual that none of the normal medical techniques work on him properly, they were hoping you would do it as you've had some medical training as well as the Byuukagen."

I watched as Hinata-nii-sans face got progressively redder and she squeaked, "Are they sure?" Kurenai-sempai nodded, making Hinata-nii-san bite her lip and look down, after a little bit she spoke up again, "I-I guess I c-could do it…"

Kurenai-sempai gave her a small smile and stood, speaking to both of us now, "Good, now I've got to inform the Hokage though; training is over for today."

As she left I set about helping Hinata-nii-san pack up the picnic she had brought, the least I could do for that kind of meal was to help her carry the stuff back; I stopped when I heard Kurenai-sempai say my name.

I looked up to see her looking over her shoulder at me with a small smile, "Next time, hold back a little more."

I grinned massively at her, "I'll try."

////////////////////////////// **End Chapter 13** //////////////////////////////

A/N.) Not much of a note here this time, just fair warning that it might be a couple weeks till I get another chapter up. And sorry about any errors in this chapter, I never got no chance to get's it beta-read...

So, till next time, this is Mr. Fluffykins signing off.


End file.
